Rare white-tailed eagles soar back from extinction in southern Britain

Conservationists ‘encouraged’ as youngsters in reintroduction scheme fly as far as Scotland and back, Jane Dalton reports

Four out of six white-tailed eagles released last year survived (PA)

Rare white-tailed eagles released in southern England have been spreading their wings this year, according to experts who reintroduced them.

Six of the birds – driven to extinction in Britain last century – were released on the Isle of Wight last year, and this year were spotted on their first major exploratory flights, which ranged as far as Scotland, Yorkshire and Norfolk.

Tracked by solar-powered satellite tags, the eagles even flew over populated places, including central London, giving people living under lockdown a chance to see a long-lost natural sight.

White-tailed eagles, nicknamed “flying barn doors” because of their 8ft wing spans, are the biggest birds of prey native to the UK.

They became extinct in Britain in early last century because of persecution by farmers and gamekeepers. The last pair recorded in southern England, where they were once widespread, was in 1780.

From the 1960s onwards, white-tailed eagles, also called white-tailed sea eagles, were reintroduced from Norway to Scotland.  

But last year a new five-year project was launched to release up to 60 wild youngsters from Scotland on the south coast of England over five years.

Four of the first six survived their first year, and it is expected birds in the project will settle within 30 miles of the release site on the Isle of Wight when they breed at around four or five years old.

The reintroduction programme, led by the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation and Forestry England, continued this summer with a release of seven birds that were flown down from Scotland despite coronavirus restrictions.

Roy Dennis said it had been a very encouraging year for the project. “Two of the older eagles have become expert at catching fish in the estuaries and open seas, while the other two located rabbit warrens for food,” he said.

“One female summered in the Scottish Borders, and we were very excited when she flew back to the island to join her partner, as well as meeting the new cohort of seven young eagles released this year.

“We've been particularly pleased that some people have viewed eagles flying over from their gardens during lockdown and to have received so many enthusiastic and supportive messages.

“The project is still in its infancy but sea eagles have again become part of life in southern England.”

Tim Mackrill, an ornithologist with the foundation, said: “For the first two years, white-tailed eagles are known to wander really widely because they don't reach breeding age until they are four or five.

“The period they are in at the moment is about learning the landscape, and building up their life skills.”

The return of one of the birds from Scotland to the Isle of Wight is a sign it thinks of the island as home, he said.

The team plan to continue releases in the next few years to build up a population on the south coast of six to eight breeding pairs.