The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
OH LOOK, A VULTURE IN THE ROAD!
Huge bird with eight feet wingspan is rarely seen in the UK but has been spotted in the Peterborough area
Motorists in Peterborough were stunned when a huge vulture - with an eight feet wingspan - landed in the middle of the road.
The bearded vulture, or Lammergeier, is rarely seen in the UK but had been spotted by bird watchers in Moulton Chapel and Cowbit on Thursday and Friday.
On Saturday ( October 10), the bird, which has been named ‘Vigo’ by bird-watching enthusiasts, was pictured flying northeast over Eye Green and was later seen landing close to the A47 at Thorney.
Birdwatchers in the area were being asked to remove any roadkill they could see from the roads to safeguard the vulture.
The bearded vulture would usually be found in the Alpine regions in central Europe after a population was released into the wild there.
Experts believe that the vulture crossed the English Channel in June after encountering bad weather.
It is believed to have first arrived on the south coast, before working its way up to the Peak District, where it spent the summer roosting. The Peak District provided an ideal location for the vulture to satisfy its diet, which mainly consists of bones, largely from sheep carcusses in the surrounding fields.
Since September, the bird has drifted further south, perhaps on it swayback to its alpine home.
Vigo has now been identified as a female vulture which hatched last year in a wild nest in the French Alps, where a programme to bring the species back to the region has been under way since 1986.
In the absence of any ring, tag or markings, the only way to find out more about its background was by genetic analysis of a blood sample or feathers, said the Vulture Conservation Foundation (VCF ), which works to conserve European vultures.
With the help of two small feathers collected in the Peak District by local Yorkshire birder David Ball, experts from Swiss conservation group Stiftung ProBartgeier were able to determine that the vulture was female and had come from the French Alps.
VXF director Jose Tavares said: “The VCF and partners have been releasing captivebred bearded vultures in the Alps since 1986, to bring back the species to the region after it was hunted and poisoned to extinction. Today there are 60-plus breeding pairs, in what is considered one of the greatest wildlife comeback stories of our times.”
Monitoring by organisations within the French reintroduction project area – including collecting feathers – enabled the identification of the bird. People are urged to help improve the bird’s chances of survival by sharing any observations of it with ibm@4vultures.org to help monitor its condition and health.