One of the largest and rarest UK birds of prey - the white-tailed eagle - has been spotted in Greater Manchester for the first time ever.
A radio tag attached to the bird when it was reared on the Isle of Wight has revealed that it was hovering over Crompton Moor above Oldham on February 9, between 11.03 and 11.09.
The eagle, with the code G466, was seen by Crompton Moor warden Bob Kenworthy, a keen watcher of birds of prey.
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His sighting was verified by Roy Dennis of the Wildlife Foundation, who said: "The bird is a 2020 youngster released on the Isle of Wight.
"It flew north to the Highlands last April and then lived in northern Sutherland the rest of summer and autumn.
"It has been slowly moving south since New Year. It was on [the Isle of] Arran, then Headed south near Tebay.
"It flew on south over Oldham, then east of Manchester before roosting overnight to the south. It later flew south near Congleton so we are hoping it's on a homing flight to Isle of Wight."
Bob, 73, said: "The bird has been bred from a pair that were taken from Scotland to the Isle of Wight and kept there for about five weeks, in the hope that they would nest and breed there like they did years and years ago.
"It's great that the birds have been radio-tagged so their precise location is known at any given time.
"This one was the last to leave the Isle of Wight and flew back up to Scotland and spent 18 months up there."
Volunteer warden Bob was repairing leaky dams on Crompton Moor when he saw the bird.
He said: "I'm thrilled with the fact that I saw this bird on Crompton Moor and that it has been officially verified as a first for Greater Manchester.
"I am a keen student of raptors [birds of prey], so this is amazing."
