Thursday 16 February 2012

Dad gets an Eagle!!!........(doesn't even play golf??)

Apologies for the dodgy post title!, you can see why I don't normally bother :-)

The day started meeting Dad in the castle car park, we saw around 28 species in the first 45 minutes, then a text from Steve Broyd told us that the WHITE TAILED EAGLE had been seen on Walland Marsh. A quick decision for me and I'm pleased Dad decided to join me, as birds of prey are his favourite and he had never seen any type of Eagle before.
We arrived just along the main road from the Woolpack towards Rye at around 10.30am and the bird was sitting in a distant tree, after being disturbed from a Fox carcass, which was close to the road. The bird took flight after 20 minutes or so, flying straight passed us. We managed to follow the bird for the next couple of hours, it gave some great views through the bins and scope. This was only the second one of these I've seen in Britain, the first was on Sheppey in December 1988!! I wasn't totally happy with the photos I took but they were secondary really, here are a few of my attempts, if I find any better ones I might post them at a later date but don't hold your breath!! I was pleased to meet Martin, who does The Ploddingbirder blog, I'm looking forward to seeing his pics.










with Black Headed Gull

With a Common Buzzard

With 2 Common Buzzards

24 comments:

Mick Southcott said...

What an amazing sight to see !!

Mindblowing ...

Warren Baker said...

Just look at the size of it! What a great bird :-)

John said...

Great bird Alan! What a sight that must have been!
J
Follow me at HEDGELAND TALES

Marc Heath said...

Now i am very jealous of that, what a beast.

Jerry said...

Wow - envious or what!!!!!!

Phil said...

Great bird Alan. I've only ever seen them on the Isle of Mull. I was actually in the area yesterday but didn't know about it.

Rachel J said...

Wow, you got it!! I hope you told it to hang around till after half term!!!

Mike H said...

Well done Alan,some great record shots of what must have been a wonderful sight to see. I never appreciated how big they are until you see them compared to a buzzard

Brian King said...

That's awesome, Alan! Glad your dad was able to see that magnificent eagle! Love the photos!

Snail said...

What a sighting! And how great it was for your dad to see it too. Sharing that sort of experience is wonderful.

Anonymous said...

Fantastic sight to behold, Alan. It`s like a flying barn door.

Marianne said...

WOW.

Mike Gould said...

Nice set of shots Alan, it looks as if you were quite close at one time.

Ornitocampero.blogspot.com.es said...

Weel done, here we saw one this year, but no pics from my part......the first of your incredible how it doesnt crass against a wind mill or the wire!!
Saludos from Pamplona!

J said...

Certainly is a huge bird. Well done for seeing and photographing it. Nice also to have your dad interested in the same things as you - my family all hate everything I like!

Millhouse Photography said...

SUPERB mate! What an incredible find - I'd love to see one of those.

mikelgar said...

Congratulations!! It's an amazing bird!!

Alan Pavey said...

Hi All, thank you all for your comments, sorry for not replying individually, just a bit under the weather today. It was a great bird and a really enjoyable couple of hours :-)

ShySongbird said...

Goodness!! I really do think Kent is an amazing place for birds. Very well done on the photos Alan, what a magnificent creature it is.

I hope you feel much better soon,

Unknown said...

Menudas fotos Alan y que preciosidad de ave.
La primera es impresionante: el ave volando entre dos de sus mayores enemigos.
Un saludo!!

Alan Pavey said...

Hi Steve, thanks, I hope it settles down somewhere so more people can enjoy it, it is a monster!!

Hi ShySongbird, thanks, it was great to see the bird as Mick said it's mindblowing I struggled to get my head round the size of the bird compared to a Buzzard, which I always consider a large bird.

I'm feeling a lot better this morning thanks :-)

Hi Ramon, thank you, I thought the bird was taking a risk flying through those pylons and wind farm too! Saludos!

Rohrerbot said...

Oh. My. Gods. You are one lucky son of a gun. You must have been excited. I think I would have been thrilled to find an eagle out in the field. These are wonderful shots. Excellent work! Seriously. I only hope this happens for me in my lifetime. Really great photo series.

Mary said...

What an amazing find this was Alan. Well done you!!! Am loving all your entries, as always - great pics too. :0)

Karen the Artist said...

I just got a copy of April's Birdwatch magazine and saw you photo in there which prompted me to find your blog. Fabulous photos of the youngster! The W-T eagle is my favourite bird, I live not far from the east Scotland release project and have been very lucky to get some great views of them. You can see my pics & reports on my blog if interested http://wildlifescotland.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/white-tailed%20sea%20eagle

Have enjoyed your other photos too :-)