EAGLES LANDING

Eagle owls were once heavily persecuted. But thanks to a new initiative, these magnificent birds are reclaiming a wetland home

- Words by MARK HILLSDON

FOLLOWING TWO WEEKS SPENT acclimatising in a special enclosure near Vylkove, a town on the edge of the Ukrainian part of the Danube Delta, it was time for four young eagle owls to leave.

Though the birds were inquisitive about the open door, it was only when the aviary's roof was carefully rolled back by members of the team from Rewilding Ukraine that they began to make their move.

They jumped up to perch on the shelter's perimeter, their huge golden eyes surveying their new surroundings. Then, after just a few minutes, wanderlust got the better of the first owl, which opened its huge wings and soared into the nearest tree. It was met by a cacophony of cawing from the confused corvids already among the branches, unsure of what to make of this huge intruder.

Within an hour the four owls had joined 15 others previously reintroduced into Europe's largest remaining wetland. The programme began with one 'pioneer owl' in 2019, and has been followed by four further releases over the past six years.

Four weeks earlier, I had been speeding east from the town of Tulcea along waterways on the Romanian side, accompanied by Ioana-Catalina Petrencu, who heads up the Danube Delta team at Rewilding Romania. The ongoing conflict meant it was impossible to meet up with their Rewilding Ukraine colleagues, but there had been sightings of an eagle owl at Ultima Frontiera, a lodge close to the Ukrainian border. This was our destination and, as well as searching for an elusive owl, the team planned to carry out land assessments and monitor waterbirds, particularly the Dalmatian pelican.