15/10/2026
Seen today on Exmoor. A silhouette I am not used to seeing in the sky. Thought it was a buzzard initially but clearly not. Looks like a Sea Eagle. It was being mobbed by crows at the time.
I am all in favour of reintroducing species that were native and have disappeared where it does not cause problems for farmers and other species in the food chain, but it has to be done the right way by the right people and sadly that does not tend to happen. Those people who are involved in these reintroductions tend to be from urban backgrounds rather than those that have grown up on the land working the land and learning first hand about farming nature and the environment and wildlife management. In my view those without such a background rarely get it even if they sound like they know what they are talking about. Once we had a natural environment and balanced eco system but that would have been thousands of years ago back to the mesolithic time. Back then top predators could be supported in the eco system. Since then man has cut down most of the 80% of ancient woodland that covered our country and killed the top predators like the wolves bears and cats. Many other species have disappeared or drastically reduced in number. Our eco system is now not in balance hence the need for man to manage wildlife in certain situations. When we had this natural environment it could support the top preditors as there was enough wild food in terms of prey beneath them in the food chain. That is not the case now so if you suddenly introduce a top preditor without the prey species for them to eat what will they do. We were told these eagles would not eat livestock like lambs but that is not true from what has been seen in Scotland. There is no way they will be able to catch fish in the bristol channel as it is a turbulent water with sediment permanently suspended in the water turning it a muddy brown colour. They will not be able to see any fish. There have already been reports of them taking hares and it is possible they could eradicate the hare population in some areas. Lambing time will be the test and if they do take the lambs which I think is highly likely then it is unfair to expect the farmers to carry that cost. If these people want Eagles then they should compensate for the damage caused and pay the farmers for any losses. If they did this then there may not be so much hostility towards them and they would have a more secure future. Those letting eagles and pine martins go do not understand the risk these animals pose to the rare species below them in the food chain either. The doormice and rare birds in what little ancient woodland we have left will now be in great danger from the pine martins especially as there numbers increase. Eco systems should be rebuilt from the bottom up not the top down.
Another image added for those that say it was not an eagle with the pair visible high in the sky forming more tradition eagle silhouettes. I just checked and the first image posted was the wrong one. People get so wound up about these things.
