The operator of the drone brought down by a golden eagle at a monitored nest site in June has identified himself to the raptor study group.
He had been working abroad since early July and had not seen any coverage of the incident until last week, when it was sent to him by a friend.
He read it on the Wednesday and drove four hours on the Saturday to speak to the monitoring team in person.
What he said
He did not claim he had been unaware there was a nest. He was clear that he knew, that this was why he flew there, and that he had wanted footage of an eagle on a cliff, which he described as something he had wanted for a long time.
He said he had assumed the bird would either ignore the drone or move off briefly, and that it had not occurred to him that repeated approaches over several days might cause a nest to fail.
“He was not making excuses and I want that recorded, because it would have been easy never to come at all. He also broke the law and he knows that. Both of those things are true and neither cancels the other.”
A member of the raptor study group
Where it stands
The group has reported the matter, as it is obliged to. Whether any action follows is not for them to decide, and the chick at this particular site fledged successfully in July.
The two nests that failed were at other sites, and no operator has come forward in either case.
The rota
He has asked to join the nest watch rota next season and the group has, after some discussion, agreed.
The discussion was not unanimous. The view that prevailed was that the rota needs people, that somebody who has driven four hours to say what he did is unlikely to fly a drone at a crag again, and that he already knows exactly where the nests are.
He has been given the March dates. They are the cold ones.
