Help Identifying Ginormous Bird

[sherrardk]

I have tried bird identification sites but I’m not having any luck. Earlier I saw a huge bird in flight( scarily huge), bigger than any bird of prey I’ve ever seen - dark brown in colour, markings under the wings, rounded wing tips - it was not a red kite. It came out of a wooded area and it didn’t seem to need much effort to fly - could it be a ginormous owl?

[Zacs-Master]

You leave Marlene out of this. Lovely bird. Won’t have anything said against her.

I suspect ladybirder means ‘hawks’. Owls are quite different and wouldn’t take kindly to being compared to a common hawk.

[sherrardk]

It’s really hard to tell because of the lack of scale in the photos - I’ve seen a lot of red kites close by and it was much larger and heftier looking. Today’s sighting was the best I’ve had so far.

[ladybirder]

Zacs, when you say you suspect I mean Hawks, which post of mine are you referring to please? If it's where I suggested Buzzards, then that is true.

[Zacs-Master]

Exactly.

[Chipchopper]

My first thoughts was a buzzard, then I got to thinking what kind of habitat is near or by ?.
If a wetland area is close, then it might have been a marsh harrier.
Just a thought, they are massive.

[shoota]

Probably a Lancaster, they have rounded wing tips...

[shoota]

http://www.supercoloring.com/sites/default/files/silhouettes/2015/05/avro-lancaster-bomber-black-silhouette.svg

[sherrardk]

It’s flying out of a v safe wooded area, public not allowed. I have never seen such a large bird. I’ve caught sight of it a couple of times, think it must be an owl of some sort that is disturbed by crows or something.

[Chipchopper]

Interestingly the white tailed eagle is the largest bird of prey in the UK.
It was once hunted to extinction but is now making a comeback after being reintroduced from Norway and seems to be recolonizing well.

[sherrardk]

I am at a total loss at to what it is - I just thought that is *** huge!

[SteveD]

Could it be an escapee from a zoo or bird sanctuary?

[Chipchopper]

On a few occasions, I've seen what I believe to be a goshawk, when driving through a mixed wooded area.
I was impressed by its sheer size and its ability to fly rapidly through dense trees with great agility.

[237SJ]

Barn owl?

[sherrardk]

I’ve sent the local owl sanctuary an email to see if they’ve had and escapee.

[ToraToraTora]

it's sounding more and more like a long eared owl as I said earlier, they can be up to 16 inches tall and have a 1 metre wing span and they are brown.

[Mamyalynne]

I'll be interested in the outcome, considering the wingspan of a Red Kite and this to be bigger rules out a lot of suggestions so far.

[shoota]

('Cept Lancaster...)

[Mamyalynne]

Hmmmm..

[sherrardk]

The local owl place haven’t lost anything.