Britain’s biggest bird is an opportunistic hunter with a wingspan of nearly 8ft
The West Sussex Gazette has teamed up with the Sussex Wildlife Trust to bring you questions and answers about all things nature. Charlotte Owen, WildCall officer at Sussex Wildlife Trust, is on hand to answer your wildlife and conservation queries. As well as answering a variety of wildlife queries, Charlotte is always eager to receive your wildlife sightings in Sussex.
WildCall provides fact sheets ranging from how to make bird cake to beachcombing and can offer advice on environmental and planning issues as well as the best ways to help wildlife such as frogs, birds, bats and bees flourish in your garden.
To talk to Charlotte, call 01273 494777 between 9.30am and 1pm on weekdays, email wildcall@sussexwt.org.uk, write to her at WildCall, Sussex Wildlife Trust, Woods Mill, Henfield, BN5 9SD, or visit sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk/wildcall
The white-tailed eagle, also known as the sea eagle, is the biggest bird in British skies – and the largest eagle in Europe.
It has a wingspan of 2.4-metres – nearly 8ft – and females can weigh up to 7kg, making it the fourth heaviest eagle in the world – with the 9.5kg Steller’s sea eagle at number one.
This magnificent bird is an opportunistic hunter with impressive fishing skills, flying low over the water and hovering briefly before dropping down to snatch its target in powerful talons.
It used to be found right across the UK but is now incredibly rare, after relentless persecution during the Middle Ages drove it to extinction by the early 19th century.
Amazingly, it’s now possible to see one in
Sussex thanks to a nearby reintroduction on the Isle of Wight. The birds have been fitted with satellite tags to track their movements, and have been flying far and wide exploring the south coast and beyond.
There are still people today, some 18 months on from the Andrex Apocalypse, who still have family packets of supersoft three-ply in their garden shed.
It is highly likely that some of these heroes will have found room in their sheds for gallons of hastily purchased unleaded. If ever there was a time to be ashamed to be British, it is this week, an embarrassing moment in history when towns were brought to a standstill by queues of motorists trying to fill up their tanks, despite the repeated pleas by both the fuel industry and politicians that the nation’s supplies were where they should be.
By Sunday evening, there were reports that up to 85 per cent of the nation’s nonmotorway petrol stations were out of fuel, turning what was a situation to keep your eye on into a bona fide crisis. But it needn’t have been this way.
If you haven’t been stuck in them, the