Eagle eyes: Rhine falconry centre worker Ulrich Voel with the bird

Schoolchildren and workers on team-building exercises will be among the first to see the majestic bird, believed to be one of the few in captovoty in Wales.

Mike Wakeman of the Welsh Bird of Prey Centre, based at Llechryd, five miles from Cardigan, will travel to the Rhine Valley in Germany to collect the bird.

He will use the golden eagle as part of the centre's educational visits to 600 schools around Britain, as well as for corporate exercises.

People on these exercises would have to learn how to fly the birds, for instance, and then be marked by supervisors.

They would also be used in "'eagle walks" to relax people when they come out of their seminars.

The two-year-old female is two-and-a-half feet tall, weighs nine pounds and has a two-metre wing span.

It is a tremendously powerful bird and can easily take out a small deer Mike Wakeman

Mr Wakeman will pay several thousand poundsfor the bird which he described as the "Ferrari of birds".

"As far as I know this golden eagle will be the only one used for display purposes in Wales, as well as being one of the few to live in captivity here," he said Mr Wakeman.

Capture

A pair of golden eagles currently reside at The Welsh Mountain Zoo at Colwyn Bay.

"We are considering artificially inseminating the bird in a couple of years when she reaches maturity so that we can start breeding the golden eagle in Wales," added Mr Wakeman.

The golden eagle has not been seen in any number in Wales since the middle ages and have only thrived in Scotland during the last century.

Despite a marked increase in numbers in the Hebrides over the last decade the total number of Scottish pairs has only increased by nine to 432 in that time.

"The problem with releasing pairs into the wild is that people try and capture or shoot them so finding a suitable location for them is very difficult," said Mr Wakeman.

The golden eagle is the UK's second-largest bird of prey after the white-tailed eagle.

It likes to soar and glide on air currents holding its wings in a shallow "v" shape.

"It is a tremendously powerful bird and can easily take out a small deer ," said Mr Wakeman.

"The way it kills its prey is to swoop down and break the animal's neck with its feet."

The bird will be one of eight birds used by Mr Wakeman in his tour of schools.

"Although we haven't got a visitor attraction ourselves at the moment we want to display the bird once a week at the Castell Malgwyn Hotel in Llechryd."