'That's a sore point!' Chris Packham comments on Wild Ken Hill's white-tailed eagle decision

Chris Packham has spoken live on BBC television a comment on the controversy surrounding the shelving of a project to bring the white-tailed eagle to West Norfolk.

Chris was presenting the first episode of Autumnwatch from Wild Ken Hill in Snettisham on BBC2 last night when he made his arch remark.

His step-daughter, Megan McCubbin, who is stationed up in the Isle of Mull in Scotland, had just showed a clip of a film of a white-tailed eagle up there harassing a sea otter with a fish in its mouth.

She boasted about the number of white-tailed eagles found in Mull and said: "You haven't got white-tailed eagles where you are!"

When they cut back to Chris and Michaela Strachan at Wild Ken Hill he said: "No we have not ... that's a sore point!"

White-tailed, or sea, eagles, are the UK's largest predatory bird with a wingspan of 8ft.

Earlier this year, Wild Ken Hill had said it was going to release white-tailed eagles imported from Poland on the estate.

But earlier this month the estate said it had decided to put off the reintroduction.

Conservationists criticised the move and speculated whether Wild Ken Hill had been pressured by landowners not keen on the bird taking young birds and even lambs.

Also in last night's programme, there was a film about Red Knot on the shore at Snettisham, showing thousands of the birds in murmuration

Chris said: "Just down the road in Snettisham is the greatest spectacle of Red Knot which we can see using thermal cameras. It is like ten thousand swords swiping through the air as the flock twists, it is an extraordinary sound."

Michaela said: "The Knot are a stunning Autumn spectacle on your doorstep.The oyster catchers and swathes of birds are absolutely gorgeous - take the time to look."