Shocking moment a giant Eastern Imperial Eagle swoops to attack a British girl, 4, as she has dinner with her family on holiday in Spain
- Nicole Yadid said the eagle swooped in on her daughter Lulu and son Gabriel, 6
- Family, from London, were enjoying al fresco meal in Marbella on Costa del Sol
- Gabriel pulled his sister out of the way, causing the bird to crash into a window
- The arid landscape around the southern resort town is known for its birds of prey
A family dining outside a restaurant while on holiday in Spain were left terrified when a large eagle swooped down and tried to attack their four-year-old daughter.
Nicole Yadid and her family, from London, were enjoying an al fresco supper in the centre of Marbella when the aggressive bird of prey dived at her two youngest children.
Lulu, 4, and Gabriel, 6, were playing around in an area just behind the family's table while they waited for their food to come when the bird swooped.
Fortunately Gabriel looked up to see it coming and was able to duck out of its way and pull his sister with him too.
Instead of striking the children as the family believe it intended to, it was unable to react to Gabriel's swerve and instead hit a window behind them with some force.
Nicole Yadid, 40, (pictured with her two daughters), said the eagle 'definitely' tried to attack Lulu, aged four (pictured in front of big sister Isabella, 12)
Mother Nicole with son Gabriel, aged six, around 20 minutes before the eagle swooped during an al fresco meal in Marbella
The bird was stunned by the blow to its head and groggily flew into the window a second time - this time captured on video by the family's oldest child Isabella, 12.
Nicole, 40, said: 'It was the maddest thing. It was definitely trying to attack the pair of them. It flew right at them at high speed.
'Thank God Gabriel saw it in time and was able to swerve and pull Lulu with him so it hit a window instead of them.
'Then it was obviously stunned by hitting the glass.
'It just sat there looking groggy for a while and then started trying to flap its wings but at first not much was happening.
The Yadid family, from Mill Hill in London, believe the bird that struck at them (pictured) was an Eastern Imperial Eagle, a large predator which has a wing span of over two metres
'Eventually it was able to take off but then it was so disoriented it flew back into a window a second time before it was able to finally fly off.'
The arid area around the southern resort town is known for its birds of prey.
The Yadid family, from Mill Hill, believe the bird that struck at them was an Eastern Imperial Eagle, a large predator which has a wing span of over two metres.
Nicole, who was holidaying with her children and husband Mark when the incident happened two weeks ago said the children were afterwards shocked by their narrow escape.
'At first they were just quite excited by what we'd seen,' she said. 'But afterwards when we were putting together what had happened I think they were a bit frightened by how close it had got to them and thinking about that.
'Thankfully we are all ok now though. The restaurant people said nothing like this had ever happened before.'
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