Here in the UK, most of our birds are little-feathered friends that don’t get much bigger than a few inches tall. But there are some here in the UK who are much, much bigger than you would think. This is about the height of the animal from the floor to top of the bird’s head…
The Top 10 Largest Birds in the UK
10 – Golden Eagle (Average Height: 34″)
Info Source: The golden eagle is one of the best-known birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere. It is the most widely distributed species of eagle. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. These birds are dark brown, with lighter golden-brown plumage on their napes.
9 – Capercaillie (Average Height: 35″)
Info Source: The species shows extreme sexual dimorphism, with the male twice the size of the female. Found across Eurasia, this ground-living forest bird is renowned for its mating display.
8 – White-Tailed Sea Eagle (Average Height: 36″)
Info Source: The white-tailed sea-eagle is a large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae which includes other raptors such as hawks, kites, and harriers. It is considered a close cousin of the bald eagle and occupies the same ecological niche, but in Eurasia.
7 – Gannet (Average Height: 37″)
Info Source: The gannets are large white birds with yellowish heads; black-tipped wings; and long bills. Northern gannets are the largest seabirds in the North Atlantic, with a wingspan of up to 6.6 ft.
6 – Cormorant (Average Height: 38″)
Info Source: Phalacrocoracidae is a family of some 40 species of aquatic birds commonly known as cormorants and shags. Several different classifications of the family have been proposed recently, and the number of genera is disputed.
5 – Grey Heron (Average Height: 39″)
Info Source: A bird of wetland areas, it can be seen around lakes, rivers, ponds, marshes and on the sea coast. It feeds mostly on aquatic creatures which it catches after standing stationary beside or in the water or stalking its prey through the shallows.
4 – Canadian Goose (Average Height: 43″)
Info Source: Extremely successful at living in human-altered areas, Canada geese have proven able to establish breeding colonies in urban and cultivated areas, which provide food and few natural predators, and are well known as a common park species.
3 – Bewick’s Swan (Average Height: 50″)
Info Source: Bewick’s swan was named in 1830 by William Yarrell after the engraver Thomas Bewick, who specialised in illustrations of birds and animals.
2 – Mute Swan (Average Height: 57″)
Info Source: It is an introduced species in North America, Australasia and southern Africa. The name ‘mute’ derives from it being less vocal than other swan species.
1 – Whooper Swan (Average Height: 63″)
Info Source: The Whooper Swan, pronounced hooper swan, is a large Northern Hemisphere swan. It is the Eurasian counterpart of the North American trumpeter swan, and the type species for the Cygnus genus.