Camera attached to eagle's head captures views of east London

A camera mounted on the back of a rare eagle has captured birds-eye views of east London.

The footage bounces from side to side as the black-chested buzzard eagle beats its wings over waterways and buildings just south of the Olympic Park.

The City of London, Canary Wharf and Docklands can be seen as the bird of prey named Oasis, who has an impressive two-metre wingspan, glances around the terrain.

The stunt was devised by Vastint UK to showcase its new Sugar House Island development, which is transforming eight historic buildings in a conservation area to provide canal-side office space for the creative industries.

Scottish company Elite Falconry brought two eagles, both more used to wheeling over the Scottish Highlands than Stratford, to the 26-acre site close to Pudding Mill Lane station.

The eagles spent several days acclimatising before animal welfare experts fitted them with telemetry devices to track them and prevent them getting lost.

One eagle performed the practise flights and the other captured the footage over the course of a three-day filming programme.

Roxanne Peggie from Elite Falconry said: “This was an interesting challenge. We had to make sure the two birds were fully acclimatised before they could start longer flights in such a densely populated area.

“We captured some really engaging footage particularly in and around the waterways which surround the development.”