Golden Eagle in the Lake District?

I saw a huge bird of prey about 2-3 years ago in the Lake District and it’s been bugging me ever since trying to work out what it was.

It was standing in the middle of the road eating what looked like roadkill, it didn’t stop for my car so I had to almost stop and drive around it. It looked me dead in the eye as I drove past and I was terrified it was sooo big!

Ive seen lots of birds of prey, theres quite a lot where I live. I used to drive this particular route 10 times per week and was familiar with certain birds of prey I’d often pass in the same places, this was massively bigger than anything I’ve ever seen in the wild. Certainly not a buzzard or anything that size. My first thought was that it was something that had got loose from one of the bird of prey centres.

When I looked at images the closest I can identify is the golden eagle, but how likely is it that I saw one in the Lake District? Have there been any other sightings in this area? I also looked at pictures of a red kite, but I still think it looked more like an eagle with chunkier legs and that death stare almost turned my blood cold Joy

  • Hi Sarah, don't know it you'll see this as it's a yr later now.
    But I have seen a Golden Eagle almost exactly where you describe, I was parked in the long layby near Binsey, and witnessed one approx 50 yards away for several minutes. This would have been late in the yr 2019.
    I was unsure too at first, but after a bit of research I was sure.
    I have also seen one in the sky over the beach near Allonby.
  • The same thing happened to me in Wasdale a couple of decades back. In this case it was definitely a buzzard. It wasn't going to move off its meal so I had to drive around.

    Having handled an injured female spar in the past I can say that they are more than capable of giving a stare of a certain type.
  • I think you are right there Robbo, with no white tail to catc h on to and nothing to get a sense of size it is easy to get it wrong. We had a couple around our area this year and I can understand the problem when in a clear sky with nothing to get your scale
  • For anyone interested in the history of the Lakeland Eagles should find a copy D G Walker's little book called The Lakeland Eagles. Dave was warden at Haweswater when the site was at its most prolific. It's not full of fancy photos but loads of info obtained by had graft by Dave and the band of vols. Some may think it dated but to me well worth looking out for