NATURE COLUMN: Bill Cawley
THE “birdy” event of 2020, as far as the Staffordshire Moorlands was concerned, was the visit in the summer of the Bearded Vulture which appeared over the skies of the Peak District.
It is a very large bird with a wing span of eight feet and dwarfs any other bird.
It achieved immediate fame and featured in print and screen media as its rarity was acknowledged.
I remember a report on Radio 4 in July when the bird had been seen close to Ladybower Reservoir.
The item was tinged with some anxiety as the expert from the RSPB discussed the fate of many birds of prey that had been found poisoned in the upland areas.
Closer to home, the vulture was seen by Mike Gledhill above Sheen as it soared on the warm currents on the lookout for carrion.
Like all vultures, bearded vultures are scavengers, but are unique in that they are the only bird to live on a diet made up almost exclusively of bones – this means that they pose no threat to farm animals or game birds.
In the Peak District, the vulture was seen feeding on the bones of a sheep.
But where did it come from? The mystery was solved when two small feathers were found at a site in the Peak District which allowed the Vulture Conservation Foundation (VCF) to determine the bird, given the name Vigo, was born in a wild nest in the HauteSavoie region of France in the foothills of the Alps.
The VCF has been working to conserve the endangered animal since 1986 by releasing captive bred birds into the wild.
The foundation said there are now 60-plus breeding pairs in the Alps.
Since leaving the Peak District, the bird has been seen in Lincolnshire where it has been exciting the “yellowbelly
“ornithologists and upsetting the magpie population.
Iranian mythology considers the bearded vulture (Persian: Homa) as the symbol of luck and happiness.
It was believed that if the shadow of a homa fell on one, he would rise to greatness – so perhaps the auguries favour Councillor Gledhill.
One biblical mystery was cleared up in my research in that an ancient name for the bird was ossifrage – derived from its bone eating diet in Leviticus eating one was considered taboo as they are an “unclean” bird.
Their habit of dropping bones from a great height in order to smash them might also explain the fate of the Greek playwright Aeschylus, who was said to have been killed in 455 BC by a tortoise dropped by an eagle who mistook his bald head for a stone.
If this incident did occur, the bearded vulture is a likely candidate for the “eagle”.
Baldies walking in the Peak District beware!