The nest was here in the forest at Uist Forest Retreat on North Uist. What was recorded over those 18 weeks became the first in depth study of a white-tailed eagles diet using both a nest analysis of prey remains when the eagle had fledged, combined with filmed footage of prey deliveries whilst the eagle was being raised.
The footage formed the basis of a 2020 MSc dissertation in Wildlife Biology and Conservation at Edinburgh Napier University. We were very proud at Uist Forest Retreat, with the support of the Jamie Boyle, then RSPB Reserves Manager and also the support of NatureScot, to facilitate the published academic research. Here is what the study found.
The nest that made history
What makes the North Uist nest particularly unusual is that it is the only known site where both continuous camera footage and a forensic nest remains analysis — carried out by Robin Reid of Uist Raptor Study Group & Independent ecologist — exist for the same breeding season. Together, these two sources gave researchers an unusually complete picture of what these birds actually do and eat during the raising of a chick.
What did they eat?
Over the full 18 weeks of observation, 106 prey deliveries to the nest were recorded on camera. Birds dominated the diet by a significant margin:
- Birds made up 60% of the total prey delivered to the chick
- Greylag geese were the single most common prey species, followed by ducks and gulls
- The male made the majority of prey deliveries throughout the season
- Fish featured in the diet but were not the dominant food source
- No livestock of any kind were recorded as prey during the study period
Fig. 1 — Prey type breakdown from 106 camera-recorded deliveries, 2019 breeding season
Alongside the camera analysis, a post-fledging nest remains analysis by Robin Reid identified the specific species brought to the nest. Greylag geese were the most numerous single species, followed by various gulls and fulmar:
Fig. 2 — Prey species identified in post-fledging nest remains analysis, RSPB / Uist Raptor Study Group
That last point — no livestock recorded — is significant. White-tailed eagles have long been viewed with suspicion by some farmers and crofters who fear predation of lambs. The North Uist data, from a nest surrounded by active crofting land, showed no evidence of livestock in the diet across the entire breeding season studied.
This question is explored in more depth in our post: Sea eagles eat geese — could they be a crofter’s friend?
Two methods, one nest: what the comparison revealed
Because both a camera system and a nest remains analysis were applied to the same nest in the same season — something that had not been done before at a UK white-tailed eagle nest — the study offered a rare opportunity to test how well each method reflects reality on its own.
The headline finding was agreement where it mattered most: both methods pointed to birds as the dominant prey, and greylag geese as the most prominent single species. But the comparison also revealed a significant discrepancy in one area — fish.
Fig. 3 — Prey composition compared across both methods, North Uist 2019. The gap in fish reflects a known bias in remains analysis.
The camera footage showed fish accounting for approximately a fifth of prey deliveries. The nest remains analysis, by contrast, recorded only four fish parts — equivalent to roughly 12% of identified items. This is a well-understood bias: fish bones are small, soft tissue decomposes quickly, and chicks digest fish more completely than they digest birds. Any study relying on nest remains alone would substantially underestimate how much fish these eagles actually eat.
The reverse is also true. The remains analysis could identify prey species with a precision that camera footage alone cannot always match. A blurred or distant delivery on camera might be logged only as “a duck”; a set of wing feathers in the nest can be definitively identified as a red-breasted merganser or an eider. The remains analysis added species to the record that the camera had either missed entirely or could not confirm.
The conclusion is that neither method alone tells the complete story. Camera footage captures frequency, behaviour and the live drama of each delivery, but has blind spots in species identification and misses anything that happens off-camera. Nest remains captures species identity accurately but systematically undercounts fish and anything that decomposes fast. Used together, as they were here for the first time at a UK nest, they correct each other’s weaknesses — and the picture that emerges is more reliable than either could produce independently.
This is the contribution the North Uist nest has made to the wider scientific understanding of white-tailed eagle diet — a methodological benchmark, as well as a detailed record of one breeding season.
The season unfolds: male vs female
One of the clearest patterns to emerge from the footage was the division of labour between the male and female. The chart below shows their average daily nest attendance across the 13 weeks of footage captured after hatching.
Fig. 4 — Average daily nest attendance (hours) for male and female, weeks 1–13 post-hatching
In the early weeks the female dominated nest duties entirely — brooding the chick, standing over it, and rarely leaving. During week four she spent an average of over eight hours a day in the nest. The male was most often perched nearby, hunting and delivering prey but spending comparatively little time at the nest itself.
As the chick grew and developed its own ability to regulate body temperature, the balance shifted. By weeks nine to twelve both parents were making only brief visits, and the nest increasingly belonged to the chick alone.
A species returned from extinction
It is worth remembering how recently white-tailed eagles were absent from Britain altogether. The last recorded nesting on British soil before reintroduction was on Skye in 1916. The successful reintroduction programme, begun on the Isle of Rum in 1975 using birds from Norway, is one of conservation’s genuine success stories. The late John Love, who played a pivotal role in that effort and who passed away in 2024, is fondly remembered for his dedication to the species’ recovery.
What the 2026 season may bring
With a new NatureScot licence in place for 2026, nest activity has already been observed in early March. Whether the season produces eggs, a successful hatch and a fledged chick remains to be seen — but the cameras are ready, and the story is beginning again.
If you would like to follow the season as it unfolds, sign up to our mailing list below. And if you would like to be here on North Uist while it happens, our Iolaire lodge — named for the Gaelic word for eagle — is available to book during the nesting season
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