Longer days and warmer temperatures have seen our four released golden eagles, Emily (121), Beaky (C11), Edward (C09) released in 2018, and Skan (C17) in 2019, extending their travels and exploring the length and breadth of the south of Scotland.

On a wet and windy night in January SSGEP Project Manager, Cat, journeyed to Scotland’s National Book Town, Wigtown, to meet with podcaster and actor, David Oakes who would interview Cat about Golden Eagles in one of the town’s many bookshops.The Open Book is a rather special and unique bookshop in that it doubles as an Air BnB where guests not only book to stay in the flat above the shop but also run the bookshop for the length of their stay.This week in particular the bookshop was in the hands of Tess and Stef, good friends of David Oakes and the host of the podcast Trees A Crowd.David took this opportunity to use the bookshop to record his podcast in front of a live audience for the first time ever, and invited Cat along to talk about the work of the SSGEP in Wigtown’s surrounding area in Dumfries and Galloway.The lure of eagles, wine and a lovely bookshop setting enticed enough people (and a cello!) to venture out into the miserable weather to listen to the interview and filled the bookshop to capacity.The podcast can be listened to here:https://www.treesacrowd.fm/dr-catherine-barlow/

EAGLE UPDATE: