Last Thursday was the 10 year anniversary of the only modern day record of a white-tailed eagle on the Dee Estuary and Wirral, which led to Site Manager Colin Wells getting sentimental and digging out his exciting account of what turned out to be a "very good Friday" that Easter weekend. Originally published in Birding North West magazine, we thought it would make an ideal blog, so here it is in its original, unedited glory.
Good Friday morning (6 April 2007) and I woke up not feeling too good. I think I’m going down with something - but it was a lovely sunny morning and Lynne insisted that we should go out and look for migrants, which hopefully would make me feel better. We decided to walk down to the Decca Pools; on the way we saw a couple of wheatears at Denhall and not long after met a birdwatcher and his family coming from the opposite direction, who said that there was not a lot about!
Feeling a bit despondent we carried on, arriving at the pools at about 11 am. Setting up the telescope, I scanned the marsh and pin-pointed a couple of lapwing nests with no sign of any more migrants. Just before leaving I did a quick scan of the marsh with the binoculars towards the Denhall Gutter, hoping to see a late hen harrier or even a marsh harrier when I connected with a very large bird well out over the estuary, in line with the Point of Ayr about 2 km out off Parkgate. The bird, being mobbed by corvids was soaring low over the marsh. Although it was difficult to make out because of the hazy conditions, I could see that there were no long legs or neck protruding, which would eliminate crane, stork etc. and realised I was watching a very large raptor.
I got Lynne onto the bird and frantically located it with the scope and got even more excited when I saw two shelduck chasing the raptor and being dwarfed by its enormous size. The light conditions were poor but I was convinced it was an eagle species. As the bird gained height and turned, I could make out a two-tone appearance on the upper wings and pale tail and with the resemblance of a barn door, I was starting to realize that it was a possible white-tailed eagle! Surely not - this is my dream bird, the one I have always wanted to see on the Dee!
It continued to gain height and was moving away from us heading north west. I was determined that this bird was not going to get away before we could confirm its identity. Lynne stayed on the bird whilst I frantically phoned Stu Taylor the Assistant Warden and ordered him to ‘get down here now and pick us up’! I then phoned Steve Williams to put out the news of an eagle species and told him to get to Parkgate as fast as he could. Lynne phoned Matt Thomas at Thurstaston to get to the cliffs and keep a lookout for the bird. Five minutes later Stu arrived, got onto the bird and agreed that it was looking good for white tailed eagle. He also announced that one had been reported over Nottinghamshire the day before.
We leapt into the truck and sped off to Parkgate. Talk about a frustrating drive - holiday traffic, red lights, etc. etc. All I can say at this point, is that it was a good job that I was not behind the wheel! We arrived at Parkgate and we could see the bird soaring in the distance heading further up the estuary. By this time, Matt had phoned back to say, “white tailed eagle soaring off Riverbank Road, Heswall”. More frantic phone calls and the old adrenaline was really kicking in. Back in the truck on route to Heswall, Matt phoned back saying it was flying towards Hilbre.
We decided to go to Banks Road, only to find it had drifted back towards Riverbank Road. More phone calls. Drove to Riverbank Road, to find Matt watching the eagle soaring over, wow- at last the chase was over and finally we had caught up with this stunning immature white-tailed eagle. Steve soon arrived followed by other local birders. We watched the eagle slowly gaining height on the thermals and was joined by two local common buzzards. On several occasions it passed overhead, where Lynne & Steve managed to get some record shots. At one point, it drifted right out over the marsh and looked as if it was heading towards the Welsh coast, only to soar back to the Wirral. I reckon it had just clipped the Welsh boundary! It continued to gain height and drifted north, losing the buzzards on the way and we lost it as a small dot in the clouds over Heswall at about 12.30 pm.
Immature white-tailed eagle and common buzzard, Heswall
© Steve Williams
I gather the last sighting by other birders was over Bidston Hill from Leasowe and Crosby. On 13 April 2007 one was seen over Llandegla moors heading towards Llangollen.
This is the first Wirral record for over 133 years, the last record - undated but prior to 1874 - was of a bird shot at by a Mr. Brockholes at Leasowe, which was later found dead in the neighbourhood. There are another three records for Cheshire: one shot near Chester on the 5 January 1863 and one shot at Davenham prior to 1875. The only modern day record was an immature over Farmwood Pool, Chelford on 28 October 1997.
This was an immature bird, probably a second plumage (third calendar year) bird. It was not winged tagged so this may suggest that it was not part of the Scottish re-introduced population, although not all of these birds are wing tagged. Immature birds unlike adults wander quite widely and it is likely that the eagle had travelled from mainland Europe.
A dream bird come true and what a tonic!!!!
As Colin mentions, most of the prevous records of white-tailed eagle in Cheshire ended up being shot - although this was often the method of identification at the time - but ultimately the species was extinct in the UK in the early 20th Century due to illegal killing. Even sadder is that these magnificent birds of prey, along with most other British raptors are still under threat from human persecution today. This article from two years ago celebrates the 100th breeding pair or white-tailed eagles in Scotland, however without a continued change in mindset amongst certain communities across the country, it may struggle to recolonise to its historic range.
How many more years will we have to wait until the next "flying barn door" over the Dee?