Kinky the eagle soars again three years after near-fatal fall

A sea eagle that confounded experts by surviving into adulthood with a badly broken wing has been spotted soaring once again above Scotland's west coast. The bird, nicknamed Kinky for the distinctive kink in its damaged wing, was dubbed the Isle of Mull's "miracle eagle" by the RSPB after it fell from its nest during a storm as a chick in 2023 and was not expected to survive.

In an unprecedented display of extended parenting, the male chick's two white-tailed parents skipped an entire breeding season to continue tending to their year-old offspring, nursing it back to health. Now, three years on, the bird has been photographed flying over Loch Spelve, a sea loch on the south-east coast of Mull, with the tell-tale kink clearly visible.

Dave Sexton, a retired RSPB officer who has worked with the island's sea eagles for more than two decades, described the sighting as "incredible". "I'm in awe of this bird," he said. However, he cautioned that the next phase of Kinky's life, as a "sub-adult", could prove perilous. "He'll no longer be tolerated as an immature by established adult pairs and might well come in for some 'you're not welcome here' behaviour, which can be pretty severe sometimes," Mr Sexton said. "But Kinky's a born survivor; I'm keeping everything crossed for him."

Sea eagles, also known as white-tailed eagles, were hunted to extinction in the UK, with the last native bird shot in Shetland in 1918. A reintroduction project began in Scotland in 1975, and the population has since become self-sustaining, returning to the Isle of Mull in the 1980s. The remarkable survival of this particular bird stands as a testament both to the resilience of the species and to the extraordinary dedication of its parents, who defied the usual rhythms of nature to give their offspring a fighting chance.