BACK in spring last year, there was excitement when a huge white-tailed sea eagle was seen first over Grimsby, then over Louth.
The massive bird is thought to have flown here from the Isle of Wight where there is an ongoing programme to reintroduce them to England.
Records indicate that, hundreds of years ago when sea eagles were widespread around the British coastline, they probably bred in Lincolnshire.
But could they ever become re-established in or around Cleethorpes, Grimsby or Immingham?
The thought is prompted by an extract from A Saga of Sea Eagles, written by ornithologist and eagle-expert John Love who writes particularly authoritatively on the diet of the species.
"The sea eagle is not averse to scrounging fish around harbours, fish markets or from fishing boats,"he notes.
"As many as eight have been seen to join gulls following boats while crews gut the catch."
Further down the coast, Donna Nook might also prove a beckoning habitat, especially during the October-to-December breeding season for seals.
Apparently it is not uncommon for the species to attack seal pups, sometimes even those that are quite advanced in age.
Love quotes an incident on a Scottish isle where a seal dived, hoping to escape an attack but only after the bird had sunk its talons into the back of the terrified mammal.
How did this gruesome incident end? "A few moments later, the eagle surfaced with both wings broken and at the point of death."
In another even more bizarre incident, a teenage girl on one of the Scottish Isles watched as what appeared to be a small sailing craft came towards shore.
As it approached nearer, the reality emerged - it was a dead cow on the body of which was a sea eagle with its wings spread.
The hapless bird had evidently sunk its talons into the carcase but had then been unable to free them.
The teenager was able to release the talons, but how did the eagle respond to this act of mercy?
By attacking the girl's thigh, ripping out some of its flesh, before flying off.
Although the girl recovered completely, the wound left her with a divot for the rest of her life.
Although fish represents the major part of the diet of sea eagles, it is not unknown for them to take rabbits, red deer, foxes or lambs.
But what about a young child, perhaps a baby. Did last year's Grimsby visitor pose any threat to young human life or limb?
Over the years, there have been many legends of such baby-snatching incidents, but, to this day, there is not a scrap of reliable evidence that any such attack has occurred?
The author's favourite tale is of a baby snatched and taken to its remote cliffside eyrie by a sea eagle after she had been left by a stack while her parents were haymaking in a field on Fetlar in the Shetlands.
Happily the bairn was rescued thanks to the skill and courage of a lad who clambered up to the eyrie and retrieved her, unharmed.
You can guess what happens next. , .
Some 16 years later, the girl and her rescuer fell in love, married and lived happily ever after just as had been prophesied, so he claimed, by the teller of the tale!
Lovely story but far too perfect to be credible!
Likely to become a valuable collector's item in the future, A Saga of Eagles is a superb book which is lavishly illustrated with photographs and exquisite artwork.
It is published by Whittles Publishing at £19.99, but, until February 12, there is a 20 discount at the online checkout by inserting the code WPLINCS20
More details at: https://www.whittlespublishing.com
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Imagine the panic among these Grimsby fish market gulls if a sea eagle joined the party! |
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