Late news just in

Re-reading the excellent 'Memories of Upchurch' this morning. It features a quote from 'The Examiner' newspaper of November 11th, 1810. Clearly the birding grapevines took many months to get news out back then, as this item was many months old-

"In the week before Lent an immensely large eagle was shot by a looker belonging to Mr Murton, in Greenborough Marshes, in the parish of Upchurch, Kent. It was, in the first instance, only wounded, and for a long time kept at bay both the man and his dog: it soon, however, became sick and threw up a kitten, soon after which it was killed. It measured from the bill to the tip of the tail three feet and a half, and with the wings expanded, eight feet..."

Ticehurst was clearly not a subscriber to 'The Examiner', as the bird did not feature in his avifauna 'A History of the Birds of Kent' published some 99 years later. Ticehurst does note that most claims of Golden Eagle in Kent had, when investigated, had proved to be White-tailed Eagle. Easter that year was April 22nd, so the incident occurred in early March, and Ticehurst noted White-tailed Eagle as a scarce winter visitor in the 19th century, the first specimen being from 1816.

In terms of official records, one that 'got away'. Unlike the kitten.


('Memories of Upchurch' can be obtained via the very useful and informative 'Upchurch Matters' blog- details at bottom of this post)