Lord of the wings sighted over region

The immature bird circled over Flamborough village and Dane's Dyke before drifting off in the direction of Bempton. Presumably the same bird was seen the previous evening over the A1 at Leeming Bar.

On Wednesday, the eagle was seen again, over the Tophill Low reserve and later along the Humber at Trent Falls near the Blacktoft Sands reserve and at Whitton Sands where it was eating a carcass.

This huge bird, with an eight-foot wingspan, is popularly known as the "flying barn door".

Many Yorkshire birdwatchers were able to see one, also an immature bird, which stayed for several days on the Burton Constable estate, near Hull in November 1999.

White tailed eagles were once widespread across Britain but the last pair in England bred on the Isle of Wight in the late 18th century and the last Scottish pair on Skye in 1916.

Attempts to reintroduce them to Scotland using birds taken from Norwegian nests began in 1975 and, after a hesitant start, the first pair bred 25 years ago.

Now they are a familiar sight on the islands of Rum, Skye and Mull and are also spreading elsewhere on the Scottish and western Irish coasts. There are now plans involving the RSPB, Natural England and the Forestry Commission to follow the successful reintroductions of red kites and ospreys and bring white-tailed eagles back to England, with the Suffolk coast chosen as the release site.

Their European stronghold is along the Norwegian coast but they also thrive in the flat lowlands of the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Poland.

The idea which involves releasing 15 to 20 eagles a year, has met with opposition from some local conservationists and farmers who fear the impact such a huge bird of prey will have. Scottish crofters claim the eagles take significant numbers of lambs.

But supporters of the scheme say that in Norway the eagles mainly take fish while elsewhere in Europe they take rabbits, small birds and carrion and have little, if any impact, on other wildlife.

The protests meant that the planned release of young white-tailed eagles in Suffolk last month was delayed while the debate continues.

There were similar fears over the reintroductions of both ospreys at Rutland Water and red kites – the Yorkshire release site for the latter had to be moved from near Pateley Bridge to the Harewood estate after protests from grouse moor owners. Both these schemes are now widely regarded as a great success but it remains to be seen if the white-tailed eagle scheme will prove equally acceptable.

Large numbers of whooper swans continued to move across the region with 89 at Astley Lake, Leeds on Easter Sunday and 69 at the Nosterfield reserve in North Yorkshire where there were also 840 golden plovers.

Firecrests were seen at Spurn and Flamborough and black redstarts at Spurn, Flamborough and Marine Drive, Scarborough while a female black redstart was reported on a garden fence at Addingham on March 25.

A Manx shearwater was seen off Flamborough and common tern in North Bay, Scarborough.

Two pairs of black-necked grebes were back in the Lower Derwent Valley between York and Selby this week and there are also several garganey.

Thirteen waxwings were still being seen in Cottingham, Hull and six at Armthorpe, Doncaster.

There are still places available on several days for classes run by East Yorkshire birdwatcher Michael Flowers. E-mail Michael on [email protected] or ring him on 07946 625688.

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CW 10/4/10