Spotting a flash of colour in the water, the whitetailed sea eagle swoops.



Eyes fixed on her prey, her powerful curved beak breaks through the surface and lifts the prize. A yellow tennis ball.

For a bird of prey whose every instinct is honed to seek out a more appetising catch, a soggy ball might seem a poor reward. But four-year-old Evie loves nothing more than a game of fetch.



And there is a reward – every time the magnificent bird with an 8ft wingspan retrieves the ball, falconer George Hedges gives her a piece of fish, or a tempting morsel of rabbit or day-old chick.

On the ball: Evie the Eagle gets stuck into her game of fetch

White-tailed eagles became extinct in Britain in the early 1900s, although after a re-introduction scheme there are now a few in Scotland.



Evie, however, was bred in captivity in Belgium and moved to Mr Hedges' Dartmoor-based falconry, Devon's Eagles, when she was two years old.



All the birds there – including owls, hawks and falcons – are exercised constantly. But Mr Hedges makes sure they also get some 'playtime'.



It was one day last month that Evie suddenly took flight, dropped over a mystery object and then returned with a tennis ball gripped in her beak.



She's off! Evie spreads her wings as falconer Mr Hedges follows

Seeing her prey, she drops down to the surface of the water

Gotcha! She grasps the ball with her huge curved beak

Flapping her wings, which span eight feet, she regains the air

Keeping a firm grip on the prized ball, she takes off

Mission accomplished, now where's my reward?

Best of friends: George and Evie

'I couldn't believe it,' said Mr Hedges. 'I gave her some food and threw the ball and she chased it again.



'Then I wondered if I threw it in the pond whether she would fetch it and she did.



'Ever since it's been her ball. This is very, very unusual.'

Evie is now happy to fetch her ball – even catching it in midair – as long as Mr Hedges is happy to keep throwing it.



As the name suggests, white-tailed sea eagles have a distinctive white tail. Young birds, however, have much darker plumage.



Eventually, Evie's tail will become completely white and the rest of her feathers will become a paler brown.



She weighs about 12lb and eats 8-10oz a day on a diet designed to maintain her weight.



In the wild the birds may weigh as much as 20lb.