The transmitter of our tracked Bearded Vulture, Mollie, stopped functioning in September 2025. This transmitter was fitted to Mollie in September exactly 13 years previously. It is the transmitter that has been fitted the longest in our project, which is quite an achievement. The transmitter has provided incredible information to date and has also shown where Mollie settled into a territory and raised his first chick, and where he moved to established a new territory.

The team managed to hike to Mollie’s nest in October and attempted to get below the nest and eventually managed to get above the nest to look for a transmitter, either still on a dead bird or fallen off. The team managed to pick up a signal from the transmitter, but did not locate it or Mollie. Unfortunately, there was also no longer any breeding activity on the nest, although one adult bird was flying in the area. The site was checked again a week later with a drone so that the nest, caves and ledges on the cliff could be checked more extensively. Fortunately the search didn’t reveal a dead bird but also did not locate the transmitter. Hopefully we will be able to see Mollie at the nest site again in the 2026 breeding season.

This transmitter marks the end of a project tracking 25 Bearded Vultures for the past 16 years – an amazing achievement!

For more information on the previously tracked birds, see our monitoring programme.