Rare sighting of booted eagle delights twitchers

Birdwatchers have flocked to Marazion in Cornwall where an "extremely rare" booted eagle has been spotted.

The bird is thought to have come from southern or eastern Europe.

Nature enthusiast John Chapple, who filmed the bird on Sunday, said: "Remarkably it lingered in the area all day giving local birders the chance to see it."

He said it was the same bird that was seen in October in the Kenidjack Valley in west Cornwall.

Mr Chapple said: "It's an extremely rare visitor to Britain, let alone Cornwall.

"I think there's been probably four records in the county before.

"There were two records last year and this bird is one of those two."

Seen from below the booted eagle has "striking looking" wings with a black edge so is quite distinctive, he said.

"It's quite straightforward to pick it out.

"The breeding range is in southern eastern Europe, all the way across the Middle East.

"Raptors, in general, do not like flying over water so it is quite unusual for a large raptor to come over the Channel.

"But they would migrate at this time of year into Africa through the Straits of Gibraltar and winter there and then come back for their breeding season."

Birdwatchers were excited by the eagle, he said.

"They will all want to see it because it is very unusual to see one and they don't often loiter around.

"They can go miles in less than a minute."

The bird seemed "very healthy", Mr Chapple added.

"I've managed to capture it sort of having a quite quick scrap with buzzards in the pines and it looked very agile and healthy.

"It's beautiful looking."

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