Sea eagle project on Mull – key

This sea eagle, known from its identification tag as White G, was born in April last year.

identification – the act, state or instance of identifying sth or being identified; a document or documents serving as evidence of a person’s identity
tag – a small label
A PIN is an ABBREVIATION for personal identification number: a secret number which you use together with a special card to obtain money from your bank account from a machine outside the bank, or in any transaction involving paying for purchases eg "Please key in your PIN number."

Also known as white-tailed eagles, there are ten nesting pairs on Mull.

a nesting pair – a male and a female bird which build a nest, lay eggs and incubate them until the young chicks hatch
a nesting box = a box for birds to nest in
on Mull – notice the preposition used for an island

They were introduced as part of a Scotland-wide reintroduction programme.

Scotland-wide = all over Scotland used adjectivally or adverbially

This film was shot in March this year on Loch Don, Mull, by a couple of islanders.

islander – person who lives on an island

The eagle can be seen trying to steal a fish from a sea otter’s mouth.

A sea otter’s mouth – did you remember the possessive apostrophe?

They are habitual scavengers but they never hunt otters, which are heavy and aggressive.

scavenger – noun – an animal or bird that feeds on decaying matter, eg a rat; a person who searches a beach, or rubbish either for food or something useful eg driftwood
to scavenge – verb – to search through rubbish for food or useful things.

hunt – verb – 1) chase a prey and (usually) kill it – eg Tigers hunt antelopes. Cats hunt birds and mice. 2) try to find sth, search for sth eg I’m hunting for my mobile phone.
prey – noun – rhymes with ‘day’ – a living thing that is eaten by another living thing

aggressive – did you remember to spell this with a double g and a double s?

In May, White G was found poisoned to death in Angus, north of Dundee.

 

To read more about the police inquiry into the poisoning of the eagle and also a buzzard.

or for more information about the background of the project

Back to the listening bank
or the reading bank
more grammar
or Home