Old sighting needing looking into (3 Viewers)

[Staysee]

Hi, not been on here in quite a while but we just had our neighbour over, she brought some veg for us, lovely!

We got talking about animal, as ya do haha and it turns out her teenage soon loves birds of prey, as do I, so we had a nice talk and she says this area is full of buzzards, sparrowhawks, tawny owls and a pair/family of barn owls [depending on the time of year haha]


Then she told me about a time, 2 years ago [Nov 2010] that her and her son were walking down by the Yealmpton Estuary and were used to all kinds of birds when they'd stopped to turn round, it was november time and it was getting chilly, they were by a fishermans boat when they spotted a bird coming towards them and her son had said that it didnt look like something they were used to seeing, but she said no, it'll just be a buzzard. But as it came close and went over them they realised it was not a buzzard and was much much bigger, it flew pretty low too, they couldnt make out markings that well just its sheer size.

It flew over them and then slowly turned and headed towards noss mayo way.

On speaking to the RSPB they could only come up with two options....Osprey or Sea Eagle, but neither should of been in devon at that time of year!

So my question is, to anybody in devon if they know of around the yealmpton/noss mayo area ish of a large bird of prey? I'm sure if there was one then someone here must of seen it, if not it'll have to be one of those that got away!

 

[Staysee]

No one?

We did say it was unlikely to be anything but a buzzard, but she and her son were sure it was alot bigger.


Oh yeah, they said it was white underneath.

 

[Stephen Dunstan]

An Osprey could conceivably be in southern England in November, though it is very late, but the description doesn't match. If it was that big an escaped eagle might even be a possibility.

Stephen

 

[Allen S. Moore]

No one?

We did say it was unlikely to be anything but a buzzard, but she and her son were sure it was alot bigger.


Oh yeah, they said it was white underneath.

What was there to compare size with? I suppose that things closer than one is used to often look bigger.

 

[Staysee]

An Osprey could conceivably be in southern England in November, though it is very late, but the description doesn't match. If it was that big an escaped eagle might even be a possibility.

Stephen

I did tell her it COULD have been a possible Osprey, cos they are a fair size, but she was told by the rspb then that an Osprey wouldnt be around that time of the year in south devon.

I did say if it was an eagle, it would probably be an escapee and if there WAS an eagle, someone else would know about it, hence asking here

 

[Staysee]

What was there to compare size with? I suppose that things closer than one is used to often look bigger.

She didnt say of anything, just that they were by a boat and the fisherman didnt see it.

I know from experience that a buzzard can seem small, but up close/caught off gaurd it can look HUGE!

 

[Stephen Dunstan]

Given that birds regularly escape from captivity and there are no plumage details to go on I don't think linking it to any escapes around that time would be safe anyway. If you remain keen to pursue it you could look at the escapes section of the county bird report, any birds known to be at large in 2010 ought to be in there.

 

[Staysee]

Given that birds regularly escape from captivity and there are no plumage details to go on I don't think linking it to any escapes around that time would be safe anyway. If you remain keen to pursue it you could look at the escapes section of the county bird report, any birds known to be at large in 2010 ought to be in there.

Didnt know there was such a thing, shall look into it though, but im guessing it was either a buzzard or an Osprey that stuck around

 

[Alcina]

Did your friend specifically note features that would make it a bird of prey? There are plenty of other large birds around. Non-birders are often very surprised by the size of herons in particular; I've often been asked what 'that huge bird flying there' is by people who are not skilled birders.