S  pend time at Skibo, or even just flick through this magazine, and you’ll notice the logo of The Carnegie Club features a large bird of prey. This isn’t just any bird – it’s an osprey, the emblem of the Skibo estate, and the osprey and Skibo have a very close relationship to one another. In the early 1900s, these large fish-eating birds of prey had become extinct as breeding birds in the British Isles due to heavy persecution. Then, in 1954, a pair returned to Loch Garten in the Highlands, and since then, they have thrived. The Skibo estate is very proud of its history of being home to breeding osprey, which is why it was chosen as the symbol for the club. In the 1960s there were fewer than 10 breeding pairs of osprey in the UK – and one of those pairs chose Skibo as their home. Now, the estate has five pairs of breeding osprey. Two of those pairs have decided to raise their chicks in artificial nests specially built by Colin Crooke, who is in charge of monitoring wildlife on the estate. ‘The estate really is of national importance for ospreys,’ he says. You don’t even have to go outside to see the osprey. In the Clubhouse, a live feed broadcasts images from one of these osprey nests, so you can watch the parents come and go as they feed their chicks. There’s also a super-powerful telescope on the lawn, if you fancy taking a peek at them in the air. Of course, if this piques your interest and you want to see them a bit closer up, that can be easily arranged. ‘You don’t have to go far to see an osprey catching a fish here at Skibo,’ says Crooke. ‘That is far more of a spectacle than seeing them on the nest.’ The chances of seeing an osprey at Skibo are almost certain during the summer months, says Crooke, but in the winter they migrate to warmer climes. There are plenty of other birds to be seen at Skibo as well, from wildfowl and waders down near the shore, to grouse and all kinds of birds of prey up on the moor. You can even see the occasional sea eagle, whose wingspan can reach two and a half metres, or the Scottish Left: an osprey is successful in catching its prey – 57 – TAK E FLIGHT pic credit Steve McLaren TAK E FLIGHT From ospreys to otters, Skibo is home to an abundance of wildlife, as Camilla Swift discovers W I L D L I F E