After stop-off at Donna Nook, will wandering White-tailed Eagle make the short flight to Cleethorpes?

                                                             

Because of its size - its wingspan can be up to 2.5-metres - the White-tailed eagle is sometimes described as a 'flying barn door' (photo: Christoph Mueller via Wikimedia Commons)

HOPES are high that a wandering White-tailed Eagle could be spotted in or around Cleethorpes and Humberston.

For most of this week, a lone female  has been venturing between Grainthorpe and Donna Nook further south on the Lincolnshire Coast.

A visit to Cleethorpes would be an easy flight given that a ring on her  leg denotes that she  has flown here from the Isle of Wight where she was released in July.

She  is one of several such eagles that has been captively reared  and released as a juvenile on IoW in an initiative aimed at restoring a breeding population in England.

White-tailed Eagles used to be widespread throughout Britain, even at inland sites,  but the species was lost in England as result of decades of persecution - notably from livestock farmers fearful that they  prey on lambs.

There is an ongoing reintroduction programme, with one pair known to have nested in Sussex but most British breeding sites being on Skye, Mull and around rocky  Scottish coastline.