White tailed sea eagle a rare sight in Wiltshire (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

White tailed sea eagle a rare sight in Wiltshire

12:31pm Sunday 9th December 2007 in News By Gazette Reporter

If you're out and about this weekend, be sure to keep an eye out for the the white tailed sea eagle.

Since the end of November Europe's largest eagle has been spotted close to the small village of Sutton Bellinger.

Since then bird watchers, from around the country, have been descending on the area hoping to catch a glimpse of this very rare winter visitor.

It might be a light weight, compared to the Great Bustard, but weighing in at over 5 kilos it's an impressive sight.

Described as bulkier than the Golden eagle the white tailed eagle can easily be identified, by its tell-tale gleaming white tail.

The eagle, however, that's made its home in Wiltshire is a young juvenile bird which is white tail-less and instead boasts a duller plumage.

Despite not living up to its name, as yet, the white tailed eagle is still hard to miss with its distinctive outline in the sky dominated by its massive 'finger' tipped wings.

Sometimes known as the sea eagle, the species' strongholds include the coastal backwaters of Norway and Russia and more recently the sea lochs of Scotland.

Experts believe that though the species has been extinct to the area since the 1930s, the juvenile eagle hanging around the A303 is a young bird that was ringed whilst in the nest in its homeland of Finnish Lapland.

Having crossed the North Sea it's now miles from where it should be, somewhere in the Baltic.

Despite being a tad off course it's expected to winter in Wiltshire and for the next few months to swap its traditional diet of fish and seabirds for a spot of carrion.

If you want to catch a glimpse of the white tailed sea eagle then head to Shipton Bellinger on the Wiltshire/Hampshire border. A local farmer, has opened up one of his fields just off the B3084 as a car park. Parking is £5.00 per car. The eagle is expected to stay in the area throughout the winter.