CORNWALL Wildlife Trust has revealed that one of Britain’s largest and rarest birds, and from a species which disappeared from the UK during the early 20th century, has been spotted in the county.

The sighting of a White-tailed Eagle gives conservationists from Cornwall Wildlife Trust and Cornwall Bird Watching and Preservation Society hope that the species could breed in the county within the next 20 years.

The White-tailed Eagle’s visit to the South West was captured in a series of spectacular photographs by amateur photographer Cat Lake on Bodmin Moor. The juvenile has been identified as one of six released on the Isle of Wight as part of a reintroduction programme run by the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation and Forestry England.

Other former breeding birds like Chough and Cirl Bunting have become re-established in Cornwall, showing the potential for previously-lost species to make a comeback.

Almost half of breeding birds have declined in Cornwall, as was revealed in Cornwall Wildlife Trust’s State of Nature Cornwall 2020 Report.