As you may know there is an attempt to reintroduce the magnificent White-tailed Eagle to the Isle of Wight and this can be followed on the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation website at http://www.roydennis.org/category/latest-news/
Six young birds were brought down from Scotland earlier in the summer and held in aviaries of the Isle of Wight. They were recently allowed to fly free, although it was anticipated that they would stay local as food was being put out for them.
However, eight days ago one absconded and embarked on an amazing journey around the south-east of England before returning to the island today! It was a male and came down from the Isle of Skye and goes by the name of Culver after the Culver Cliffs where the last breeding took place in southern England in 1780.
First he flew across to Lymington, rather than take the ferry, and over the following days wandered around the New Forest and western Hampshire before crossing the county and heading north-east to London, where he passed over Big Ben! Then on to Essex, Kent, East and West Sussex and returning to Hampshire. Last night he roosted on Thorney Island before crossing back to the Isle of Wight this morning!
His route is shown in red on the map below and was taken from the Roy Dennis Latest News pages.
Six young birds were brought down from Scotland earlier in the summer and held in aviaries of the Isle of Wight. They were recently allowed to fly free, although it was anticipated that they would stay local as food was being put out for them.
However, eight days ago one absconded and embarked on an amazing journey around the south-east of England before returning to the island today! It was a male and came down from the Isle of Skye and goes by the name of Culver after the Culver Cliffs where the last breeding took place in southern England in 1780.
First he flew across to Lymington, rather than take the ferry, and over the following days wandered around the New Forest and western Hampshire before crossing the county and heading north-east to London, where he passed over Big Ben! Then on to Essex, Kent, East and West Sussex and returning to Hampshire. Last night he roosted on Thorney Island before crossing back to the Isle of Wight this morning!
His route is shown in red on the map below and was taken from the Roy Dennis Latest News pages.
