White-Tailed Eagle Spotted in Cornwall

One of Britain’s rarest birds has been spotted in Cornwall

A white-tailed eagle has been photographed flying over a lake on Bodmin Moor.

With a wingspan of more than two metres (six feet), the white-tailed eagle easily dwarfs a common buzzard and are often described as “flying barn doors” such is their aerial stature.

The juvenile female was spotted by an amateur photographer soaring above the vast waters of Colliford Lake on the roaming uplands of Bodmin Moor, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Its diet consists mainly of fish, snatched from the water with its powerful talons.

The sighting was received with much excitement among local conservationists who hope it’s a sign that the species could be establishing a population in the county. The white-tailed eagle, with its broad wings with fingered ends, was once a common sight in the British Isles but vanished completely after being illegally persecuted by humans – the last known breeding pair in England was recorded at Culver Cliffs on the Isle of Wight in 1780.

Also known as sea eagles, a Scottish breeding project has resulted in the 100th pair nesting on Hoy in the Orkney Islands, having last year successfully raised two chicks. Six of these young eagles were released to a confidential site on the Isle of Wight and have since been seen flying above gardens across England, comfortably making flights of more than one hundred miles in distance.

Speaking to the BBC, the Cornish Birdwatching and Preservation Society’s Chris Mason said: “If you think a buzzard’s wingspan is just over 1m to 1.3m (4ft 3in), a white-tailed eagle’s wingspan is 2.5m (8ft 2in), so if you think of your front door flying around in the air that’s pretty much what you’ve got.”

Chris, along with the rest of the society, are pinning their hopes on the eagles settling in Cornwall over the next twenty years, opting for sheltered lakes and lochs over exposed craggy, coastal sites and building their eyries in the lofty perches of trees. In 2020, Cornwall Wildlife Trust reported a sharp decline in various species during its State of Nature report but were heartened by the return of two lost breeds of bird, the chough and the cirl bunting, proof that wildlife can make a comeback.

White-tailed eagles form life-long bonds and reach sexual maturity by the age of five. Besides fish, their diet is supplemented by small mammals such as rabbits and hares, and during the winter months they often rely on carrion. During the springtime breeding season and times of rearing young an adult sea eagle can digest up to 600gs of food per day, halving that volume during winter.