\n Outlander star Sam Heughan, co-owner of the Galloway Distillery and an ambassador for the South of Scotland (Image: Gleneagles)\n<\/p>\n
\n Dame Judi Dench, who named one of the young eagles, said: “I would like to congratulate the charity Restoring Upland Nature and everyone who has supported their pioneering work to restore this iconic species to record numbers in the South of Scotland.\n<\/p>\n
\n “A real triumph over adversity.\n<\/p>\n
\n “It is an enormous privilege to name a golden eagle that has fledged from the nest of an eagle translocated by the project.\n<\/p>\n
\n “Many years ago, as the first female M, I instructed James Bond to ‘find GoldenEye’ \u2013 and here he is.\n<\/p>\n
\n “I wish GoldenEye a long life soaring in southern skies and RUN the best of luck in their continued work.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Dame Judi named one of the new fledglings GoldenEye after the Bond film of the same name, in which she starred as the first female M (Image: Sacha Dench)\n<\/p>\n
\n The eagle named by Dame Judi is the grandchild of the oldest known living wild golden eagle in Europe, a 36-year-old male.\n<\/p>\n
\n GoldenEye\u2019s father, Shine, was translocated to the region as part of the project, while the mother, Amelia, fledged from the last remaining original nest in the Scottish Borders in 2021.\n<\/p>\n
\n Actor Sam Heughan, co-owner of Galloway Distillery and an ambassador for the South of Scotland, named another fledgling Sassy, after his Sassenach Whisky and the Outlander series.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u2018Sassy\u2019 the eagle, who was given his name as a nod to Sam Heughan’s Sassenach Whisky (Image: Bjorn Beckmann)\n<\/p>\n
\n Mr Heughan said: “It is a great honour to be invited to name a golden eagle that represents such hope for the future of this magnificent species in the South of Scotland.\n<\/p>\n
\n “I\u2019m delighted to know that this magnificent creature might explore the beauty of my hometown and surrounding area, I hope it may even fly over The Galloway Distillery.\n<\/p>\n
\n “There\u2019s something incredibly moving about seeing a native golden eagle soaring over the landscape and it was truly moving to meet one recently up close.\n<\/p>\n
\n “It reminds you just how wild, beautiful and special these birds are and how they belong in southern Scotland.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The two chicks have been named ‘GoldenEye’ and ‘Sassy’, and are two of four new chicks to be born this summer (Image: Sacha Dench)\n<\/p>\n
\n Dr Cat Barlow, chief executive of Restoring Upland Nature (RUN), described the fledglings as a significant step forward.\n<\/p>\n
\n Dr Barlow said: “Seeing not just one, but four young birds hatch, fledge and fly freely from the nests of golden eagles that we translocated to southern Scotland is a hugely significant milestone in our work to restore the species to southern skies.\n<\/p>\n
\n “It shows that where there are healthy ecosystems and the risk of interference is low, translocated eagles can successfully integrate into native populations to breed successfully.”\n<\/p>\n
\n She also praised Dame Judi Dench and Sam Heughan for supporting the project.\n<\/p>\n
\n Biologist and conservationist Sacha Dench with one of the new chicks who has so far been called ‘Beaky Jr’, as they wait for an official name (Image: Sacha Dench)\n<\/p>\n
\n Dr Barlow said: “We are thrilled that Dame Judi Dench and Sam Heughan accepted our invite to name chicks.\n<\/p>\n
\n “They are both wonderful champions for golden eagles \u2013 Dame Judi through her role as a wildlife ambassador, and Sam through his fantastic support of the communities which play such an important part in the project’s success across southern Scotland.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Michael Clarke, chair of RUN, said the project has succeeded thanks to broad community and partner support.\n<\/p>\n
\n Mr Clarke said: “Individuals from all walks of life, including many who live and work in the landscapes they share with golden eagles such as game keepers, farmers and forestry workers, have responded positively to the project and played an important part in its success.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The fledglings, all descendants of birds reintroduced through a conservation project, hatched in southern Scotland and are now…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":782785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-782784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=782784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=782784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=782784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=782784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}