Names wanted for two-month-old sea eagle chicks
Members of the public are being invited to name two recently-hatched sea eagle chicks.
Members of the public are being invited to name two recently-hatched sea eagle chicks.
The two-month-old chicks, believed to be a male and a female, are being reared in a pine forest sweeping the shores of Loch Arkaig in the Highlands.
The rare birds, also known as white-tailed eagles, were once extinct in the UK but have been reintroduced and are breeding again in Scotland.
The Woodland Trust has come up with the naming scheme as it continues a fundraising campaign to buy the birds' forest home.
The charity said Loch Arkaig Pine Forest is being sold by Forestry Commission Scotland under the national forest land scheme, which gives community organisations the chance to buy land where this will provide increased public value.
The Woodland Trust has partnered with Arkaig Community Forest, a small group of local residents who share "ambitious" plans for the 2,500-acre site.
The organisations are currently working to raise the £4.5 million needed to buy and restore the forest.
Woodland Trust Scotland director Carol Evans said: "We believe schemes like this point the way forward for the economic and ecological regeneration of large parts of the Highlands.
"We look forward to helping manage this spectacular landscape for the needs of the local community, and creating a wonderful woodland asset for people and wildlife."
The forest, one of the largest remaining fragments of the ancient Caledonian pinewood, is the ancestral home of the Clan Cameron. Rumours have persisted down the years of "Lochiel's Gold", a hidden cache of Jacobite treasure.
During the Second World War, the wood was a Commando training ground and scorching is still visible on hundreds of trees damaged during live firing exercises.
Nominations for the eagle names can be submitted through the Woodland Trust's social media channels #ArkaigEagles on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Online voting will produce a final list from which Arkaig Community Forest will choose two names for the birds.