Bird watchers are enjoying the rare appearance of one Britain’s largest birds of prey.
A white-tailed eagle has nested in the Houghton area and is creating quite a stir as hundreds of twitchers try to catch a glimpse of the magnificent bird.
The eagle, which has an 8ft wing span, was spotted flying in from the sea at Hunstanton on February 16.
Illegal killing led to the white-tailed eagle becoming extinct in the UK until the population was re-introduced to east Scotland.
Titchwell Marsh volunteer Andy Thompson has sent in this picture of the juvenile eagle in flight. Mr Thompson said: “To get a white-tailed eagle in Norfolk is quite a special thing. People travel up to the Isle of Mull to see them. It is quite a spectacle. I had seen one previously at a distance so to take this picture was a special treat.
“They are huge. People have said it looks like a barn door flying around. I have a shot of it 20ft away from a buzzard and it dwarfs the buzzard.”
Mr Thompson said more than 200 people were in the Houghton area on Saturday in the hopes of seeing the eagle.
An eagle spent 10 days in West Norfolk during 2005 and there are records of another soaring above the RSPB Titchwell Nature Reserve in 2011.
Warden Paul Eele said: “It is exciting to see any eagle but to see it locally is even more impressive.”
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