A YOUNG sea eagle has made his home in Oxfordshire and may think he is a red kite, say conservationists.

Despite being so far from the sea, the bird has lived for months in the Chilterns close to the M40, at an undisclosed location.

The discovery comes six months after six of the eagles were reintroduced into England in a special programme by Forestry England and the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation.

The satellite-tracked birds were released on the Isle of Wight last summer and are England’s first resident sea eagles for 250 years.

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Project officer for the programme Steve Egerton-Read said of Oxfordshire’s new arrival: “He thinks he’s a red kite.

Oxford Mail:

“Like all other young birds, he tries to learn from other birds.

“In the absence of other eagles, he's learning from red kites.

“He flies around picking up bits of dead stuff - dead rabbits, dead game birds.”

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Mr Egerton-Read said the Oxfordshire eagle was living on private land and was safe.

He added: “Oxfordshire is full of game shoots but there’s no ill will towards it and the landowners are very pleased to have another exciting bird to add to their list.

“I don’t have many concerns for their safety over southern England and there is much more food for them than in Scotland.”

Three of the eagles remain on the Isle of Wight and the other two are thought to have died.

The project aims to release as many as 60 eagles in southern England over the next four years.

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The birds are taken as chicks from nests in Scotland, where there are now 150 pairs after the birds were introduced from Norway in the 1970s.

Mr Egerton-Read added the project would inform the public if the English eagles started to appear regularly at accessible sites.

They may become more visible during the summer.