The older history of the White-tailed Eagle in Britain
Transcription
The older history of the White-tailed Eagle in Britain
The older history of the White-tailed Eagle in Britain Derek W. Yalden Richard Johnson www.stitchbird.co.uk ABSTRACT This short article reviews evidence for the former status of White-tailed Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla in Britain, on the basis of place-names and archaeological findings. It concludes that there is no doubt that White-tailed Eagles frequented lowland southern Britain during Roman and Anglo-Saxon times. he ornithological literature on the former status of the White-tailed Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla in Britain has been admirably summarised by Love (1983), as part of the background to the reintroduction programme for the species in Scotland. The bird’s alternative name (the Sea Eagle), as well as its recent (c. 1700–1900) history here, has tended to reinforce the notion that it is a maritime species, associated especially with sea cliffs and islands. This has led some to question the suggestion, currently under consideration, that it should also be reintroduced to England, and moreover not to an especially maritime county, such as Cornwall, but to Suffolk. Such questioning ignores both its history as a British species and its ecology in, for instance, Germany and Poland, where it frequents large T © British Birds 100 • August 2007 • 471–480 river valleys, lakes and reservoirs in wooded areas, nesting sometimes on river cliffs but often in large trees. Its ecology elsewhere is well covered in Cramp & Simmons (1980) and by local sources. I wish to concentrate here on other evidence of its former status in Britain, especially England, which comes from archaeological and placename evidence. This evidence makes clear just how widespread it once was in lowland Britain. Place-names The Old English (OE, otherwise Anglo-Saxon) name ‘earn’, which became ‘erne’, probably applied to any large eagle. While the Whitetailed Eagle was certainly recognised as a scavenger, along with the Wolf Canis lupus and Common Raven Corvus corax, of the battlefield 471 The older history of the White-tailed Eagle in Britain Table 1. Places named after White-tailed Eagles Haliaeetus albicilla in England. Note that it seems likely that the Old English (OE) ‘earn’ referred to eagles in general, and that it did not always differentiate Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos from White-tailed Eagle.The distribution of these names, and their frequent association with woodland and river valleys, strongly hints at White-tailed rather than Golden Eagle. A few Middle English (ME), Old Norse (ON) and Cornish (C) names are included. County names are the pre-1974 ones traditionally used in place-name literature. Compiled from Gelling (1987), Whittaker (1998) and Gelling & Cole (2000). Place County Grid Ref. Old English Meaning Arbury Banks Areley Arlecdon Arley Arley Arley Arley Arley Arley Arnberg Scar Arncliffe Arnecliff Arnecliffe Arnewas Arnewood Arngrove Arnold Arnold Ayleford Burniere Eagle Crag Earley Earlye farm? Earn Crag Earnley Earnshaw Earnshaw Earnshaw Bridge Earnslow Earnstrey Earnwood Easdon Eglemont Eridge Erne Crag Ernesborough Ernesdon Wood Great Early Grove Hern Clough Herneshaw Hernside Hern Stones Ingleby Arncliffe Little Ernesettle Yarnacombe Cross Yarnacombe Yarnbury Castle Yarncliffe Yarneford Yarnfield Yarninknowle Wood Hertfordshire Worcestershire Cumbria Warwickshire Worcestershire Cheshire Lancashire Lancashire Staffordshire West Yorkshire North Yorkshire North Yorkshire North Yorkshire Huntingdon Hampshire Buckinghamshire Nottinghamshire East Yorkshire Gloucestershire Cornwall Cumbria Berkshire Sussex Westmorland Sussex West Yorkshire Cheshire Lancashire Cheshire Shropshire Shropshire Devon Bedfordshire Sussex Westmorland Devon Buckinghamshire Bedfordshire Derbyshire Cumbria Derbyshire Derbyshire North Yorkshire Devon Devon Devon Wiltshire West Yorkshire Devon Wiltshire Devon TL2638 SO8070 NY0419 SP2890 SO7680 SJ6780 SD5327 SD6707 SO7680 SD9769 SD9371 NZ7804 SD9356 TL0997 SZ2895 SP6013 SK5945 TA1241 SO6608 SW9873 NY2712 SU7571 TQ5932 NY3608 SZ8196 SK2297 SJ7270 SD5222 SJ6270 SO5788 SO7478 SX7382 SP9821 TQ5535 NY3608 SS6230 SP8745 TL0953 SK0994 NY7270 SK1692 SK0995 NZ4400 SX4559 SX7243 SX6952 SU0340 SK3184? SX8366 ST7637 SX6150 OE earn, byrig OE earn, leah OE earn, lacu, denu OE earn, leah OE earn, leah OE earn, leah OE earn, leah OE earn, leah OE earn, leah OE earna-beorg, sker OE earn, clif OE earn, clif OE earn, clif OE earn, waesse OE earn, wudu OE earna, graf OE earn, halh OE earn, halh OE earnleah, ford C bren, er ME OE earn, leah OE earn, leah? ME earn, cragge OE earn, leah OE earna, sceaga OE earna, sceaga OE earna, sceaga OE earnes, leah OE earnes, treow OE earn, wudu OE earnes, dun ME OE earn, hrycg ME erne, cragge OE earnes, beorgh OE earna, denu OE earna, leah OE earn ON clough OE earna, sceaga OE earn, side OE earn, stan OE earn, clif OE earnes, setl OE earn, cumb OE earn, cumb OE earn, burh OE earn, clif OE earn, ford OE earna, feld OE earna, cnoll eagle fort banks eagle clearing eagle-stream valley eagle clearing eagle clearing eagle clearing eagle clearing eagle clearing eagle clearing eagles’ hill scar eagle cliff eagle cliff eagle cliff eagle wetlands eagle wood eagles’ grove eagle nook eagle nook eagle-clearing ford eagle hill eagle crag eagle clearing eagle clearing farm eagle crag eagle clearing eagles’ wood eagles’ wood eagles’ wood bridge eagle’s clearing eagle’s tree eagle wood eagle’s hill eagle hill eagle ridge eagle crag eagle’s mound eagles’ valley wood eagles’ clearing eagle valley eagles’ wood eagle slope eagle stones eagle cliff eagle’s seat eagle valley cross eagle valley eagle fort castle eagle cliff eagle ford eagles’ field eagle knoll wood 472 British Birds 100 • August 2007 • 471–480 The older history of the White-tailed Eagle in Britain Table 1. Places named after White-tailed Eagles Haliaeetus albicilla in England (continued). Yarnscombe Yarnshaw Hill Yarns Hill? Yarner Yarner Yarnfield Yarnold Farm Yarnspath Law Yarwoodheath Yes Tor Devon Cheshire West Yorkshire Devon Devon Staffordshire Worcestershire Co. Durham Cheshire Devon SS5523 SJ9870 SD9905 SX7778 SX7762 SJ8632 SO9473 NT8813 SJ7485 SX5890 OE earn, cumb OE earna, sceaga OE earn, hyll? OE earn, ofer OE earn, ora OE earn, feld OE earn, hyll OE earnes, paeth OE earn, wudu OE earna, tor eagle valley eagles’ wood hill eagle hill eagle ridge eagle ridge eagle field eagle hill farm eagles’ path eagle wood heath eagles’ tor carrion, the former does so more regularly, but the more important dietary distinction is that Golden Eagles hunt mammals and birds, while White-tailed Eagles, like other Haliaeetus, feed extensively on fish, both freshwater and marine. Thus Golden Eagles are more likely to be found in mountainous areas, with abundant hares Lepus, marmots Marmota and grouse (Tetraonidae), while White-tailed Eagles are usually found near water. Gelling (1987), reviewing a sample of 34 place-names involving ‘earn’, noted two categories of associated words making up the place-names, one indicating open country and the other woodland. She suggested that perhaps places in open country, incorporating elements like field, ridge, combe, cliff and bank, referred to Golden Eagles; several locations in Devon and Yorkshire are of this type. Places along, for instance, the Severn, Mersey and Thames valleys that included wood or ‘leah’, a clearing in woodland (e.g. Arley, Earnley), were more likely to relate to White-tailed Eagles. Further searching in the volumes of the English Place-name Society (see Boisseau & Yalden 1999 for a full bibliography of these sources), in part as a student project by James Whittaker, has increased the sample of relevant place-names to 68. About a third (21) of the place-names imply woodland or woodland clearings (table 1). While it is not possible to insist that any specific name relates to the former presence of WhiteFig. 1. Map of place-names including the element ‘earn’ (red circles, tailed rather than Golden Eagles data in table 1). A few ‘eagle’ names (yellow circles) and one at these places, the spread of Cornish ‘er’ (yellow diamond) are also shown. dead (‘earn aeftan hwit’, the eagle white behind; Kitson 1997, 1998), it cannot be certain that every incorporation of ‘earn’ in a place-name relates to this species. However, there is an abundance of such place-names, and they are widely scattered across lowland Britain. The ecological distinction between Golden Eagles Aquila chrysaetos frequenting upland areas and White-tailed Eagles frequenting lowlands, as well as coastal areas, is widespread across Europe, while in North America, Bald Eagles H. leucocephalus play the equivalent lowland role. Both White-tailed and Golden Eagles feed on British Birds 100 • August 2007 • 471–480 473 The older history of the White-tailed Eagle in Britain Aelfric’s glossary; Wright 1884). Place-names names across lowland England surely relates to incorporate one or two other bird names whose White-tailed Eagles. Gelling’s argument that modern identity is less certain, notably ‘wrocc’ two species are indicated by the names is in Wroxall, Wraxall, etc. (12 place-names), doubted by Kitson (1998), who considered which Ekwall (1936) suggested to be also a name them to refer mostly or entirely to White-tailed for a raptor, perhaps a buzzard. In view of its Eagles. A cursory examination of the names in scarcity as a place-name, its southern distribuDevon, for example, finds most of them in tion, and absence from the glossaries, a rarer wooded valleys and around, rather than on, the raptor, perhaps Honey-buzzard Pernis apivorus highest ground, and therefore less likely to be (my own preference) or Marsh Harrier Circus Golden Eagle sites. Later (Middle English) aeruginosus (suggested by Kitson 1998), is indinames and those in northern England related to cated. Either way, it is clear that the Anglocliffs and crags might more plausibly be related Saxons had and used a variety of names for to Golden Eagles, but even that is not certain. smaller raptors, and it is surely inconceivable Both Golden and White-tailed Eagles were that they misused ‘earn’ to refer to them. recorded in historical times from the Lake District (Love 1983). Place-names in northern and western areas Archaeological records of Britain, incorporating elements such as Scots Archaeological records are usually unamGaelic ‘iolaire’, Welsh ‘eryr’, Manx ‘urley’ and biguous to species. Not only are White-tailed Irish ‘iolar’, as well as the Old Norse ‘orn’, have Eagle bones generally bigger than those of also been compiled, but could relate to either Golden Eagles, even after allowing for the conspecies, and are left out of table 1 and fig. 1. siderable sexual dimorphism in size between Given that modern tourists to Scotland are females and smaller males, but the two species reputed to misidentify Common Buzzards Buteo buteo as eagles on a regular basis, one might ask how reliable is the attribution of earn in place-names to what in modern terms we regard as eagles? Two arguments present themselves. One is that a much ? more rural population had a much better idea of what they saw in the countryside than modern town-dwelling tourists, even if their concepts of avian taxonomy were less precise than now. The other is the wide variety of other raptors whose names appear in place-names. A trawl of place-name literature similar to that which located the earn place? names found 170 involving hawk and 18 ‘hafoc’ (Anglo-Saxon for hawk), 96 for kite or ‘cyta’ (originally indicating buzzard), 24 ‘puttock’ (also kite, originally), five ‘pyttel’ (buzzard) and 54 ‘gleoda’ (glider, either kite or harrier) (Boisseau 1995). These are identified with their Latin equivalents in Anglo-Saxon glossaries (e.g. hafoc = accipiter, cyta Fig. 2. Map of archaeological records of White-tailed Eagles Haliaeetus = buteo and gleoda = milvus, in albicilla (data in table 2). 474 British Birds 100 • August 2007 • 471–480 The older history of the White-tailed Eagle in Britain it indicates the wealth of Roman archaeological sites that has been excavated in this country. However, they do show clearly that it was widespread throughout England during that period. There are fewer records from later, post-Roman, periods, and they are mostly from northern sites. This may be a genuine reflection of increasing scarcity due to persecution, drainage and woodland clearance. Some of these records come from the sort of maritime, northern sites that match the modern perception of good White-tailed Eagle habitat, notably sites such as Viking Age Skail in Orkney and Medieval Iona in the Inner Hebrides, as well as the Neolithic and Iron Age Orkney sites of Isbister, Howe, Links of Notland and Point of Cott. White-tailed Eagles were remarkably abundant at Isbister, contributing 641 of a total of 745 bird bones, and must have had some symbolic significance there – the site received the nickname ‘Tomb of the Eagles’ (Bramwell 1983; Hedges 1984). However, the spread of records across lowland Britain is equally notable, and registers the species from the Somerset Levels (Iron Age lake villages at Meare and Glastonbury) and the wetlands of the Humber estuary (Skipsea, Hornsea, Dragonby) as well as ? the fenlands of East Anglia (Burwell Fen, Stonea, Longthorpe). Not only is the Golden Eagle much rarer in archaeological sites, but the 14 available records come from northern and western ? Britain (table 3); as befits the arguments, above, about the habitat of the two species, none is further southeast in England than Stafford and the Peak District (fig. 3). One might expect more records from Scotland, but the archaeological record there is ? poorer than from England, and the best sites there (the ones with most wild birds recorded) are coastal ones, particularly in Orkney. There is a similar, though less extreme, disparity in the Swedish archaeological record: 18 Golden Eagles but 33 White-tailed Eagles (Ericson & Fig. 3. Map of archaeological sites for Golden Eagles Aquila chrysaetos Tyrberg 2004). and uncertainly identified eagles (data in table 3). are not closely related and there are numerous skeletal differences. For instance, two of the digital phalanges (toe bones) in the 4th toe are fused in Haliaeetus, but not in Aquila, and of course the beak is much deeper. The archaeological record has been collated under a project financed by the Leverhulme Trust, as a preliminary step to writing a forthcoming book on the history of British birds. Currently, it includes 57 records (table 2, fig. 2). The same database has only 15 records of Golden Eagle, and nine of uncertain ‘eagle sp.’ (table 3, fig. 3). In time, they range from Ipswichian Interglacial to late Medieval, but only five pre-date the Late Glacial period (15,000–11,000 years BP). Records later than the maximum of the Last (Devensian) Glaciation, at about 20,000 years BP , can be taken as indicating native status; that is, the bird arrived by itself, after the maximum of the Last Glaciation wiped the biological slate clean (see Yalden 2003). Most records (19) come from Roman sites. This does not necessarily mean that the species was most abundant then; rather, British Birds 100 • August 2007 • 471–480 475 The older history of the White-tailed Eagle in Britain Table 2. Archaeological records of White-tailed Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla in Britain. Dates/periods are as assigned to these records in the source literature. Site Grid ref. Date/period Source Walton, nr Clevedon Tornewton Cave Soldier’s Hole, Cheddar ST4274 SX8167 ST4654 Reynolds (1907); Palmer & Hinton (1928) Harrison (1980a,b); Harrison (1987) Harrison (1988) Cat Hole, Gower London Basin Walthamstow, Essex Soldier’s Hole, Cheddar Rousay, Orkney Church Hole Cave Hornsea Skipsea Port Eynon Cave, Gower Carding Mill Bay Lough Gur, Co Limerick Links of Noltland, Orkney Rousay – Knowe of Ramsay Isbister Westray – Point of Cott Dublin – Dalkey Island Burwell Fen Potterne Coneybury Henge, nr Stonehenge Dragonby Meare Lake Village Glastonbury Lake Village Deerness – Skail Howe, Orkney Puckeridge & Braughing Carlisle – The Lanes Leicester – High Street Stanwick – Redlands Farm Uley Shrines, Gloucs. Ower Stonea, Cambridgeshire London – Billingsgate Buildings London – Southwark Caerleon Camulodunum Long Bennington Dragonby Tolpuddle Ball Longthorpe Binchester Segontium SS5390 TQ27 TQ3788 ST4654 HY4030 SK5374 TA2147 TA1655 SS4785 NM8429 R6441 HY4249 HY4028 HY4018 HY4647 O2726 TL5967 ST9959 SU1341 SE9012 ST4442 ST4938 HY5806 HY2710 TL3924 NY3956 SK5804 SP9670 ST7899 SZ0085 TL4493 TQ3280 TQ3179 ST3390 TL9825 SK8247 SE9012 SY8194 TL1597 NZ2131 SH4864 Ipswichian? Wolstonian Middle/Early Late Devensian Devensian Upper Devensian Late Glacial Late Glacial Post-Glacial Flandrian Holocene Mesolithic 9,000–6,000 BP 5,000 BP Neolithic Neolithic Neolithic Neolithic Neolithic Neolithic Bronze Age Bronze Age Bronze Age Iron Age Iron Age Iron Age Iron Age Iron Age Late Iron Age Early Roman Roman Roman Roman Roman Roman Roman Roman Roman Roman Roman Roman Roman Roman Roman Roman Dunstable Droitwich Scole-Dickleburgh York – Minster – SE Lagore York – Coppergate Deerness – Skail York – Minster – Contubernia Dublin – Woods Quay Nantwich Waterford Iona – Abbey Brougham Castle, Cumbria TL0121 SO8963 TM1680 SE6052 N9852 SE6052 HY5806 SE6052 O1535 SJ6552 S6012 NM2824 NY5328 Roman Roman Late Roman 5th–8th C Sax/Med Anglo–Scand Viking 9th–11th C 10th–11th C Medieval Medieval Medieval 14th–16th C 476 Harrison (1980a) Harrison (1985) Bell (1922); Harrison & Walker (1977) Harrison (1988) Bramwell (1960) Jenkinson (1984) Bell (1922) Sheppard (1922) Harrison (1987) Hamilton-Dyer & McCormick (1993) D’Arcy (1999) Armour-Chelu (1988) Davidson & Henshall (1989) Bramwell (1983) Harman (1997) Hatting (1968) Northcote (1980) Locker (2000) Maltby (1990) Harman (1996) Gray (1966) Andrews (1917); Harrison (1980a, 1987) Allison (1997) Bramwell (1994) Ashdown (1979) Connell & Davis (unpubl.) Baxter (1993); Mulkeen & O’Connor (1997) Davis (1997) Cowles (1993) Coy (1987) Stallibrass (1996) Cowles (1980a); Parker (1988) Cowles (1980b); Parker (1988) Hamilton-Dyer (1993) Luff (1982, 1985); Parker (1988) Harman (1994) Harman (1996) Hamilton-Dyer (1999) King (1987) Mulkeen & O’Connor (1997) O’Connor (1993); Mulkeen & O’Connor (1997) Jones & Horne (1981); Parker (1988) Cowles (1980b); Parker (1988) Baker (1998) Rackham (1995) Stelfox (1938), Hencken (1950) O’Connor (1989) Allison (1997) Rackham (1995) D’Arcy (1999) Fisher (1986) D’Arcy (1999) Coy & Hamilton-Dyer (1993) Gidney (1992) British Birds 100 • August 2007 • 471–480 The older history of the White-tailed Eagle in Britain Table 3. Archaeological sites for Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos and uncertain eagle Aquila/Haliaeetus sp., arranged roughly in date order. Dates/periods are as assigned to these records in the source literature. Site Golden Eagle Aquila chrysaetos Cat Hole, Gower, Glamorgan Aveline’s Hole, Somerset Pinhole Cave, Derbyshire Robin Hood’s Cave, Derbyshire Gough’s Old Cave, Cheddar, Somerset Fox Hole Cave, Derbyshire Howe, Orkney Meare Lake Village, Somerset Bainesse Farm, Catterick, N. Yorkshire Ossom’s Eyrie Cave, Staffordshire Iona Monastery, Argyll Lough Gur, Co. Limerick Iona, Argyll Stafford Castle, Staffordshire Aquila/Haliaeetus sp. Langwith Cave, Derbyshire Little Hoyle, Pembrokeshire Mount Sandel, nr Coleraine, Co. Down Jarlshof, Shetland Perthichwareu, Llandegla, Denbighshire Midhowe, Rousay, Orkney Caister-on-Sea, Norfolk High Street, Perth, Perthshire Castle Park, Dunbar, E. Lothian Grid ref. Date/period Source SS5390 ST4758 SK5374 SK5374 Devensian Late Pleistocene Late Devensian Late Devensian Harrison (1980a) Newton (1921, 1922, 1924); Tyrberg (1998) Jenkinson (1984) Jenkinson & Bramwell (1984) ST4653 Late Palaeolithic Harrison (1989) SK1066 HY2710 ST4442 SE2299 Neolithic Iron Age Iron Age Roman Bramwell (1978) Bramwell (1994) Gray (1966) Meddens (1990); Stallibrass (2002) SK0955 Roman Bramwell et al. (1987, 1990) NM2824 R6441 NM2825 SJ9223 Christian 13th–14th C Medieval 16th C Coy & Hamilton-Dyer (1993) D’Arcy (1999) Bramwell (1981) G. Jones pers. comm. SK5169 SS1199 Mullins (1913) Bell (1915); Tyrberg (1998) C8632 Devensian Late Pleistocene (22,800 BP) Mesolithic van Wijngaarden-Bakker (1985) HU3909 SJ1854 Bronze Age Neolithic Platt (1956) Bramwell (1960) HY3730 TG5112 NO1123 NT6679 Neolithic Roman Medieval Medieval Davidson & Henshall (1989) Harman (1993) Smith (1997) Smith (2000) Conclusions For a large and generally scarce bird, Whitetailed Eagle is relatively frequent in the archaeological record, and there is no doubt about the identity of most of its remains. The nine records of ‘eagle sp.’ appended to table 3 are as likely, on distributional or habitat arguments, to be Golden Eagle as White-tailed Eagle, except for the record from Caister-on-Sea. Placenames are more ambiguous – they could refer to either White-tailed or Golden Eagle – but they supplement the record of bones in showing that eagles were once widespread in southern and lowland Britain, not confined to montane areas. The two sets of data are complementary. By definition, in most archaeological sites, eagle bones have been transported by humans, so might derive from some distance away. Place-names might refer to the other British Birds 100 • August 2007 • 471–480 species, but they surely relate to the particular site in question. In combination, there is no doubt that White-tailed Eagles frequented lowland, southern Britain through Roman and Anglo-Saxon times. Historically, there is no reason to question the propriety of attempting to reintroduce the species to southern England. Acknowledgments The archaeological database on which this ar ticle is compiled was assembled from the literature by Robert Carthy, employed on a Leverhulme Research Grant. I am grateful to both him and the Leverhulme Trust for their support, which is intended to result in the publication of a History of British Birds. Numerous correspondents have helped with both place-name and archaeological literature and records, including M. Gelling and P. R. Kitson on the former, Umberto Albarella, Keith Dobney, Sheila HamiltonDyer, Terry O’Connor, Dale Serjeantson and Catherine Smith on the latter. I thank James Whittaker and Simon Boisseau for the contributions made by their undergraduate projects on place-names. 477 Richard Saunders/Natural England The older history of the White-tailed Eagle in Britain 198. Adult White-tailed Eagle Haliaeetus albicilla, Hokkaido, Japan, February 2007. References Allison, E. P. 1997. Bird bones. In: Buteux, S. (ed.), Settlements at Skail, Deerness, Orkney. Excavations by Peter Gelling of the Prehistoric, Pictish,Viking and later periods, 1963–1981. BAR British Series 260: 247–248. Andrews, C.W. 1917. Report on the remains of birds. In: Bulleid, A., & Gray, H. S. G. (eds.), The Glastonbury Lake Village: a full description of the excavations and the relics discovered 1892–1907,Vol. 2: 631–637. Glastonbury Antiquarian Society. 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