The honey buzzard is one of Britain's most enigmatic and elusive birds, poorly named (being neither a buzzard nor an eater of honey) and under-reported.  In August, Roy Dennis and his team, having discovered a honey buzzard nest in woodland in Moray, where Roy lives, fitted a highly sophisticated satellite transmitter to a female chick. A month later, the bird left on migration for Africa, but experienced the most dramatic start to her journey, blown eastwards across the North Sea to Denmark. She survived, and after several days' rest, continued on her journey, correctly turning south towards her destination.

Tim Mackrill tells the story of her journey so far, and describes what might yet be waiting for her, while Roy explains more about the species as a whole.

Producer: Moira Dennis
Contributors (in order of appearance):  Roy Dennis, Tim Mackrill

The project to reintroduce white-tailed eagles to the Isle of Wight continues, and in this - the second year of five - seven birds have been released.  This podcast picks up the story from when they were taken south from Scotland to their new home - pilot Graham and his daughter Helen Mountford of Civil Air UK making two voluntary trips to fly the birds to the Isle of Wight - but instead of focussing on the fortunes of this year's birds, we look instead at a major milestone in the project overall.  One bird - G3-24 - has returned to the Isle of Wight after two months in Scotland. What this means for the project as a whole is discussed by Roy Dennis and his colleagues, as they outline what they hope for the future and reflect on the wider purpose of this reintroduction project.

Producer: Moira Dennis
Contributors (in order of appearance): Tim Mackrill, Steve Egerton-Read, Graham Mountford, Helen Mountford, Ian Perks, Fraser Cormack, Leanne Sargeant, Roy Dennis, Lucy Allen

Music credit: Realness by Kai Engel, form the Free Music Archive
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

In the previous podcast, Ian Perks described his work collecting eagles for translocation from nests in the Western Isles to a new home on the Isle of Wight.  Now, the chicks safely collected, it's time to care for them while they wait to be taken south. This is the 2020 cohort for the white-tailed eagle reintroduction programme, a joint venture between the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation and Forestry England which had a successful start twelve months ago.  In this year of lockdown, though, it's not as straightforward as it might be, with the usual team unable to travel to help feed the eagles and drive them south.

The challenges of this year of Covid 19 are dealt with, though, and the birds successfully taken for release on the Isle of Wight, thanks largely to a father-and-daughter volunteer team with exactly the right skills for this project.

Producer: Moira Dennis
Contributors (in order of appearance): Leanne Sargeant, Ian Perks, Moira Dennis, Roy Dennis, Graham Mountford, Phoebe Dennis, Helen Mountford

Music: Realness by Kai Engel, downloadable from the Free Music Archive

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/