EAGLE OWLS at large in Britain - yet another target bird on the Fera hit list - but now new evidence suggests that some may be of natural origin

An autopsy and isotope analysis of a EURASIAN EAGLE OWL picked up dead as a road casualty in Thetford Forest has apparently proved positive in terms of comparison with the clades of birds resident in Continental Europe and Scandinavia, indicating that the small population in East Anglia is perhaps of natural origin rather than of introduced or escaped birds.

As there has been a recent application made by Fera and other organisations to destroy up to 44 pairs of this species breeding in the wild from Scotland and Wales south to Sussex and Kent, on the basis that the birds are illegal releases and may sway the natural swing of the food chain in this country, this new information is perhaps more than ever pertinent and testament to the fact that the birds should be left well and alone.

Furthermore, a recently-published paper by Aebischer and others on juvenile dispersion of Eurasian Eagle Owls on the Continent has provided an insight into the actual movements of this species.