Giant Eagle

[Saleen836]

As it is local to me....
https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/...

They also have a lot of Red Kites in/around Longleat as they take a risk and go in the Lion/Tiger & Wolf enclosures after meat scraps which is what it seems this Eagle is doing

[LordGrover]

Magnificent. Here's hoping she does well.

[anonymous-user]

Fantastic, I've been hoping to see one of these as they have been reintroduced on the Isle of White (and Scotland)and a few are starting to head further afield.

There have been some very successful species reintroductions recently, there are also storks nesting in Sussex, wild beavers across the country and bustards on Salisbury plain.

[BoggoStump]

Wonder when a game keeper will kill it

[anonymous-user]

BoggoStump said:

Wonder when a game keeper will kill it

If a game keeper does kill it they need locking up

[BoggoStump]

MonkeyMatt said:

f a game keeper does kill it they need locking up

Plenty of evidence showing what they do.

[anonymous-user]

BoggoStump said:

MonkeyMatt said:

f a game keeper does kill it they need locking up

h
Plenty of evidence showing what they do.

The gamekeepers/landowners/farmers need prosecuting, doesn't happen often enough though

[Boosted LS1]

BoggoStump said:

MonkeyMatt said:

f a game keeper does kill it they need locking up

Plenty of evidence showing what they do.

Yes there is and it's shocking. On a plus note this bird will have a tracker and if it goes off line it'll be known where it met it's fate. I think some moorland sites have already declined to renew leases to game shooters due to bad practice, shooting hawks etc.

[anonymous-user]

Boosted LS1 said:

BoggoStump said:

MonkeyMatt said:

f a game keeper does kill it they need locking up

Plenty of evidence showing what they do.

Yes there is and it's shocking. On a plus note this bird will have a tracker and if it goes off line it'll be known where it met it's fate. I think some moorland sites have already declined to renew leases to game shooters due to bad practice, shooting hawks etc.

Lat week there was a high profile incident where an ospreys nesting platform in the middle of a lake was cut down with a chainsaw. They are struggling to find who might have done it and fisherman are being blamed. Strange situation as the fishery owner was happy to have the platform installed nd onboard with the project. Thankfully the osprey pair have already found a new nest site nearby

[Digger]

How are the numbers of Golden Eagles doing these days?

Magnificent creatures along with the subject of this thread.

[anonymous-user]

Digger said:

How are the numbers of Golden Eagles doing these days?

Magnificent creatures along with the subject of this thread.

They are doing ok in some remote parts of Scotland but heading south not do well in doing badly in England. Persecution seems to be there biggest problem still. They should quite happily live in places like the Lake District and Wales. Any luck there will be programmes to try and encourage and reintroduce them.

The reintroduction I hope will happen is of lynx, will help control the overpopulation of deer due to having no natural predators to keep numbers in check. Reintroduction have been successful in other parts of Europe. There are now even wild populations of wolves in Germany and the Netherlands fairy close to towns.

The fact beavers are now back in the uk and having a positive impact on flooding and habitat creation is perfect example that reintroductions can be positive and beneficial to us and other wildlife

[Digger]

MonkeyMatt said:

Digger said:

How are the numbers of Golden Eagles doing these days?

Magnificent creatures along with the subject of this thread.

They are doing ok in some remote parts of Scotland but heading south not do well in doing badly in England. Persecution seems to be there biggest problem still. They should quite happily live in places like the Lake District and Wales. Any luck there will be programmes to try and encourage and reintroduce them.

The reintroduction I hope will happen is of lynx, will help control the overpopulation of deer due to having no natural predators to keep numbers in check. Reintroduction have been successful in other parts of Europe. There are now even wild populations of wolves in Germany and the Netherlands fairy close to towns.

The fact beavers are now back in the uk and having a positive impact on flooding and habitat creation is perfect example that reintroductions can be positive and beneficial to us and other wildlife

Thanks. So kind of a good news bad news situation.

Frustrating.

[BoggoStump]

Nice to know some on here know what gamekeepers get upto. Lovely Bird hope its ok.

[yellowjack]

I'm happy to have found this thread, because it has solved the mystery of "what bird was that" when I was out on a bike ride from Alfred's Tower, up near Longleat. These things are absolutely massive, and so incredibly majestic. I mentioned it to my wife, and looked it up in my British Wildlife book, but it's an old book, predating the reintroduction programme. I knew they were on the Isle Of Wight, but dismissed the possibility that they'd moved up inland. Now it turns out that my suspicion was probably correct, and the bird I disturbed on a kill on a bridleway was, indeed, a White Tailed Eagle...

[anonymous-user]

yellowjack said:

I'm happy to have found this thread, because it has solved the mystery of "what bird was that" when I was out on a bike ride from Alfred's Tower, up near Longleat. These things are absolutely massive, and so incredibly majestic. I mentioned it to my wife, and looked it up in my British Wildlife book, but it's an old book, predating the reintroduction programme. I knew they were on the Isle Of Wight, but dismissed the possibility that they'd moved up inland. Now it turns out that my suspicion was probably correct, and the bird I disturbed on a kill on a bridleway was, indeed, a White Tailed Eagle...

That must have been amazing to see. Something quite amazing about raptors, I still stop and look when I see a red kite, even though I see then most days now. I still haven't seen all the British raptor but I'm hopeful in time. My most recent interesting sighting is a female goshawk

[silentbrown]

Saleen836 said:

As it is local to me....
https://www.somersetlive.co.uk/news/somerset-news/...

They also have a lot of Red Kites in/around Longleat as they take a risk and go in the Lion/Tiger & Wolf enclosures after meat scraps which is what it seems this Eagle is doing

Pretty certain that's a kite it's seeing off in the article, not a buzzard. Tail shape's all wrong

Re: Golden Eagles and poisoning, this popped up yesterday. https://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/2021/05/05/polic...

[anonymous-user]

silentbrown said:

Pretty certain that's a kite it's seeing off in the article, not a buzzard. Tail shape's all wrong

Re: Golden Eagles and poisoning, this popped up yesterday. https://www.grough.co.uk/magazine/2021/05/05/polic...

I agree, a buzzard has a convex tail and a kites is concave

[yellowjack]

MonkeyMatt said:

yellowjack said:

I'm happy to have found this thread, because it has solved the mystery of "what bird was that" when I was out on a bike ride from Alfred's Tower, up near Longleat. These things are absolutely massive, and so incredibly majestic. I mentioned it to my wife, and looked it up in my British Wildlife book, but it's an old book, predating the reintroduction programme. I knew they were on the Isle Of Wight, but dismissed the possibility that they'd moved up inland. Now it turns out that my suspicion was probably correct, and the bird I disturbed on a kill on a bridleway was, indeed, a White Tailed Eagle...

That must have been amazing to see. Something quite amazing about raptors, I still stop and look when I see a red kite, even though I see then most days now. I still haven't seen all the British raptor but I'm hopeful in time. My most recent interesting sighting is a female goshawk

Amazing? Utterly astounding, and if I'm honest quite scary too. Whatever it was eating, or killing, was near a hedgerow and I was upon it before I could see it, so when it took flight I was fully exposed to it's full wingspan. Very close up, in the wild, it's such an impressive sight. I've seen plenty of British raptors, Buzzards in woodland, Kites over Reading, and recently I watched a beautiful Kestrel take a small mammal on the coast path above Durdle Door. But this Eagle was in the realm of "just something else altogether". Hopefully they'll become a common sight again, like Red Kites, but it'll take time.

I've also seen a White Stork on Salisbury Plain. But I've yet to see a Bustard in person (although another 'Strava' user got a picture of one in the Stonehenge site).

Today's wildlife highlight was a Weasel crossing a road, dragging a young rabbit which was easily as big as the Weasel itself. It "lost" the rabbit and scurried up a bank when I appeared, but I ducked up a bridleway and sure enough it came back to recover it's kill. I tried for a picture but three shots revealed nothing identifiable as either a Weasel or a Rabbit. But it failed to drag the kill up the bank, as it was steep and the Rabbit larger than the Weasel. It reappeared at the top a few times, it's white neck fur giving it away, but my presence was stopping it from trying for the Rabbit again. In the end I gave up on getting a decent picture, and I picked the rabbit up by it's ears and threw it up to the top of the bank in the hope of making the Weasel's life a bit easier. After all, there was nothing to be done to revive poor Peter Rabbit...

[popeyewhite]

Pedantic perhaps but shouldn't the thread be titled just "Eagle"?

[Digger]

popeyewhite said:

Pedantic perhaps but shouldn't the thread be titled just "Eagle"?

No, not in this scenario . . . Why ask the question?