Skip to main content
NEU Senior Regional Support Officer
The great escapes
PETER FROST asks who let the dogs out, and many other species as well
Minks, wallabies and grey squirrels are all escapees to the British countryside

WE HAD some great excitement among birders and twitchers a week or so ago when a pair of white-tailed eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla) were seen in Daventry Country Park. 

This is Britain’s biggest bird of prey with a wingspan of over eight feet. It is also known as the sea eagle, which made its presence in Daventry something of a mystery as the town is about as far from the sea as you can get in Britain.

Eventually, after some close examination of the pair and their leg rings, they were discovered to be escapees, probably from a bird of prey collection. 

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
Erhai lake
Climate Crisis / 9 October 2025
9 October 2025

One of the major criticisms of China’s breakneck development in recent decades has been the impact on nature — returning after 15 years away, BEN CHACKO assessed whether the government’s recent turn to environmentalism has yielded results

earthquakes
Books / 18 July 2025
18 July 2025

JOHN GREEN is fascinated by a very readable account of Britain’s involvement in South America

UNEASY COHABITATION: Southern Ridges, Singapore, 2015 Pic: Zairon/CC
Science and Society / 21 May 2025
21 May 2025

Nature's self-reconstruction is both intriguing and beneficial and as such merits human protection, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT

 

Features / 9 February 2025
9 February 2025
EMILE SCHEPERS looks at the history of dispossession that has prompted the South African government's land reforms