Eagle spotted on Farne Islands

A white-tailed eagle has turned up on the seabird haven of the Farne Islands for the first time, wardens said.

The bird, one of a group released in eastern Scotland last month as part of a reintroduction scheme for the species, arrived at the islands last Saturday.

The eagles, which are nicknamed "flying barn doors" because of their size, were persecuted to extinction in England in the early 19th century and disappeared from Scotland in the early 20th century.

They have been successfully reintroduced in the west of Scotland and a reintroduction scheme is under way in eastern Scotland, but plans to bring the country's largest bird of prey back to England were shelved earlier this year.

Since its arrival the male bird has eaten several seabirds, including a shag and some fulmars and gulls, and birds have been witnessed "mobbing" the eagle in a bid to drive it away.

The RSPB's East Scotland sea eagle officer Claire Smith said she believed it had been carried south by the strong winds to the Farne Islands, off the cost of Northumberland.

It is the third time one of the birds released in the scheme, which has been running since 2007, has headed to England - but this is the furthest an eagle has gone immediately after release.

David Steel, head warden of the Farne Islands, which are owned and managed by the National Trust, said the bird, also known as a sea eagle, was the largest oddity that had ever turned up there.

"Most of the seabirds have long gone, and normally at this time of year it's just the grey seals, the wardens and the visitors. So having a three and a half foot bird with a seven foot wingspan is something else, it's fantastic."

But Mr Steel expressed concern that the seabirds of the Farne Islands already had enough pressures on them without the added problem of being at risk of predation from a white-tailed eagle.