Man ‘blown away’ to spot rare eagle in Marlow

A keen wildlife photographer said he was “blown away” to spot an eagle close to his home after spending years photographing them miles away in Scotland.

Neil Richards, 63, from Marlow, Buckinghamshire, had been taking photos of white-tailed sea eagles for decades and was beyond delighted when he heard of one flying about at his local nature reserve, Spade Oak, in Little Marlow.

White-tailed eagles are the UK’s largest birds of prey with wingspans of about 2.4m (7.8ft).

Mr Richards said it was “very rare” to see such a bird at the local reserve and to his knowledge, it was “the first recording of a white-tailed eagle landing [here]”.

Mr Richards developed a love of photographing birds at the age of seven, as his mother had an aviary.

“It stuck with me and I’ve been photographing for an eternity,” he said.

“My cousin had a bed and breakfast place on the Isle of Skye, so, for many years, I used to [go there] to photograph the white-tailed eagles and whales.”

He said over the years he had travelled “thousands of miles” to and from Scotland to photograph the eagles.

“But I was totally blown away when I heard of one on my local nature reserve on Tuesday,” he added.

When he heard on a social media group one had been spotted, he said: “I was out of the door in the blink of an eye.

“I’ve walked around there for 40 years plus, and if there’s going to be a white-tailed eagle there, I’m not going to miss it.”

• Also known more simply as white-tailed eagles, they have a brown plumage with a pale head and neck, and white tail feathers
• Their diet includes fish (hence they are also known as sea eagles), other birds, rabbits and hares
• The eagles were driven to extinction in the UK in the early 20th Century due to illegal killing
• Some farmers were critical of the bird being reintroduced due to claims they had killed lambs, however, the RSPB said the baby sheep were mostly eaten by the eagles as carrion – when already dead
• They largely lived in the Scottish Highlands, coasts of southern England, Norfolk and Suffolk, and the south-west coast of Ireland
• Their Schedule 1 protected status means it is illegal to disturb the bird

Source: RSPB

“We’re not 100% sure where the bird I photographed was from, and if it originally came from the Isle of Skye… but it’s a possibility that I’ve previously photographed this bird’s parents when on Skye,” Mr Richards added.