Mystery big bird soars over Grantham
Friday, 9.50am- SIGHTINGS of a mystery big black bird of prey hovering over Grantham are coming in thick and fast.
Friday, 9.50am- SIGHTINGS of a mystery big black bird of prey hovering over Grantham are coming in thick and fast. And there are just as many theories of the identity of the creature as there are sightings. People have speculated that the bird could be an eagle, a buzzard, a hawk, or even a white-tailed eagle.
Michelle Watson of Redmile Walk, Grantham has seen the bird several times. She said: "It caught my eye because it was so big. It was so unusual. It was very dark in colour, with a dark face and beak. Her daughter has also seen the bird on Earlesfield Lane.
Michelle said: "She saw it take out another bird. It swooped out of a tree and grabbed it."
The Journal decided to get to the bottom of the matter - and went straight to television presenter and wildlife expert, Chris Packham.
And he thinks it's is a common buzzard. He said: "It's exciting because there are generations who won't have seen a common buzzard.
"The reason it is catching everyone's eye is because the common buzzard disappeared from the east side of the UK in the 50s/early 60s, and has been missing for some time.
"Another contender is the goshawk, but these are extraordinarily shy and like thick woodland. They won't be common in Lincolnshire.
"There are other raptors like marsh harriers, but anything hanging around for people to see and to catch people's eye has to be a common buzzard."
Trevor Lee, Grantham's leading ornithologist, has a different theory on what it could be. He said: "It's likely to be some sort of a falconer's bird. I'm 99 per cent sure it would have escaped from captivity."
Trevor agreed the common buzzard might fit the description. But he said: "They wouldn't have found them in an urban area. It's likely to be a harris hawk or a red-tailed hawk."
Trevor said the hawk would eat anything from rabbits to worms but if it is used to captivity it might not be very good at catching prey.
He said: "You do get circumstances where they will come down and try and land on you because they think somebody feed me please. I wouldn't recommend anybody tries to catch it, they've got claws like razors."
Journal readers have contacted us through Facebook with an array of sightings.
James Knipe said: "My workmate has seen it. "Its an eagle and stands 18 inches tall.
Tony Taylor said: "I saw it today. It was big, brown and looked like an eagle. If they weren't so rare I would say it looked like a white-tailed eagle as its head seemed a lighter colour than its body.
Sarah Jones said: "I saw it a couple of weeks ago and it was BIG! It flew out over my car. It had what looked like a baby rabbit in its claws!"
Rebecca Rowles said: "My dad's wife was horse riding the other week and it flew right in front of her face."
Debbie Rimmington said: "I've seen it loads of times in the Alma Park area. I'd love to know because it's massive and it flies really high up. I had to bring my little dog in it was that big."
Email to a friend
Print this page - Popular
- Most comments
- Most shared
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Local pages
Looking for a...
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Grantham
Thursday 18 March 2010
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 2 C - 8 C
Wind Speed: 14 Knots
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 2 C - 10 C
Wind Speed: 18 Knots
Wind direction: North west
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.