It’s impossible to tell how big the black eagle really is until it alights on the oak tree in front of me, making the branches droop and creak as it clings to its perch like an elephant on a tightrope. With a wingspan of around three feet, this giant bird of prey is far less graceful on its talons than it was a moment ago, when it was gliding in broad arcs over the rippling green valley. As I clasp a cup of chai on a terrace 1,800 metres
