Vulture preys on woman’s home

They are more at home feeding on carcasses in the middle of the desert – so a Black Country woman was more than a little surprised to see a giant vulture perched on top of a neighbour’s house.

Busy preening itself on a rooftop in Scholar’s Walk, Rushall, the bird was photographed by shocked resident Susan Baker on her digital camera.

She said: “I went upstairs into the bedroom and glanced out of the window and saw it on the roof. It was quite a distance away but you could still see it was big.

“It was there for about 20 minutes before flying off in the direction of Aldridge and Brownhills.”

Mrs Baker added: “It was a total shock, the only time I have seen something like that before is in a Western film when you see them feeding on dead animals in the middle of nowhere. You don’t expect to see a vulture in Walsall.”

Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) spokesman Ciaran Nelson has also seen the photographs of the sighting in Walsall.

He said: “We think it’s probably a black vulture – an American species.” We’ve some cracking birds of prey in England, but nothing that really compares to a vulture in terms of size.

“So I can imagine this must have been a bit of a shock for Susan when she spotted it. 

“Someone else is also likely to be looking for this bird, though, as he or she is clearly an escapee from someone’s collection.”

He added: “We regularly get peregrine falcons in our city centres nowadays, but as for vultures in the suburbs – I think we’ve a few years to wait before that’s ever likely.”

The vulture was photographed on Tuesday, September 30, at 9.50am.

Wildlife parks such as West Midlands Safari Park, Dudley Zoo and others in the area said they knew nothing of an escaped vulture.

Vultures seldom attack healthy animals, but may kill the wounded or sick. 

Vast numbers have been seen upon battlefields throughout history.

They gorge themselves on prey and sit, sleeping to digest their food. 

Vultures are one of the fastest declining birds in the world.