Raptors don't like crossing water?

The recent Booted Eagle in Cornwall and elsewhere has inspired me to update my raptors page on my website, and also to reminisce about the Booted Eagle in Cornwall in 1999. That year is etched in many birder's memories as one of the best ever, from Slender-billed Gulls in spring to Short-billed Dowitcher, and thence to one of the best autumns on Scilly. Ann and I were waiting for a Siberian Thrush to re-appear on Gugh when someone came running up with a cry of "Eagle!!!!!!" Britain's first record of Short-toed Eagle appeared within range of our binoculars, as it arrived from across the sea to tour the Scillies for a few days. We saw it again distantly that afternoon, but the best views were from boats in later days. However, we were busy with White's and Blue Rock Thrushes by then, and it is easily seen in other parts of the world. 

After a few more rarities on returning home, such as Paddyfield Warbler and Pallid Swift, we had to return to Cornwall in November for another eagle, the infamous Booted Eagle at St.Buryan, via Northern Ireland. I was lucky to get a half-decent shot which appeared everywhere, Birding World, Birdwatch etc. The newspaper cutting below appeared in the Chew Valley Times (a free local paper) when the bird re-located to Somerset in the new millenium, although the photo was the one I took in Cornwall, and in true journalistic fashion, Alan Tate didn't actually say anything! They did at least ask permission to use the photo. 

However, whilst the Short-toed Eagle went rapidly on to Category A, Booted Eagle is still languishing on Category D. Perhaps this recent record will alter matters, as several more Short-toed Eagles have been accepted. I think many birders always just accepted it as genuine, despite the BOU. Apart from feather damage, which easily occurs in the wild, one of the main reasons for non-acceptance at the time was the myth that raptors don't like crossing water. They don't, but it doesn't stop them.

A raptor in the sky above France can easily see the UK mainland, and we now have many raptors on the UK list. It is also a fact that young birds wander extensively after leaving their parents, witness the Lammergeier of a few years ago. Having seen them well abroad, I was in no hurry to twitch a juvenile, especially given its status as a re-introduction, but many spent considerable time and money to see it. Eventually, it wandered again, and for a couple of days languished in a tree about 12 miles from my house! Then I went to see it. Other species to cross water to get to Britain in recent years include Black-shouldered Kite, Northern Harrier, Rough-legged Buzzard (US race), Egyptian Vulture and Amur and Eleonora's Falcons.


The raptor "scene" in the UK is still changing. When I moved to East Anglia in 1988, Buzzards and Peregrines were rarities, Goshawks only seen at one site, and Red Kites a bird that only occurred in Wales. Pallid Harrier had not been seen anywhere since 1953, and Hobby was an occasional visitor. Some species have declined but were always on the brink, such as Montague's Harrier, and Hen Harriers will recover I'm sure. Suffice to say, if I were to go today from my house in Lincolnshire, three miles from the Norfolk border, I would see Red Kite and Buzzard before I reached Kings Lynn, and many more Buzzards. I have seen Goshawk at least twice whilst driving, and a pair of Sparrowhawks feeds on passerines in our garden. Merlins remain few and far between in winter, sadly, but seem to be thriving in the right areas. I usually see a Peregrine when I visit Frampton, but if I don't there are several cathedrals and churches nearby that have nesting birds. Hobbies have a stronghold at Lakenheath on the Norfolk/Suffolk border, and Red-footed Falcons are vagrants nearly every summer. A sting in the tail- I've just become aware that whilst we were in Oz in 2019, Britain's first Long-legged Buzzard was accepted on Shetland.


 

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