Country diary: The all-conquering sea eagle suddenly seems vulnerable | Amanda Thomson

Abernethy Forest, Cairngorms: Avian flu has reached our biggest bird of prey. How extra special it is to experience their startling grandeur up closeThe walk starts quietly, along a track made muddy by sheep. As it progresses through scrubby pinewoods, the distant view becomes far more promising, with Scots pinewoods enwrapping the hillsides in front of the distant Cairngorms.We're heading to a loch to look for wildfowl, and when we get there I'm so preoccupied watching a flock of 50-odd teal dipping and wheeling around that at first I don't notice the massive white-tailed eagle. It's perched on a dead pine on the far side, so big that it makes the snag look tiny. Continue reading...