Isle of Wight reintroduction
White-tailed Eagles were once widespread along the whole of the South Coast of England, from Cornwall to Kent, before being driven to extinction by relentless persecution that began in the Middle Ages. The last pair bred on Culver Cliff on the Isle of Wight in 1780. Many parts of southern England remain highly suitable for the species, and following the reintroduction of White-tailed Eagles to Scotland – where there are now approximately 180 breeding pairs – we were granted licences by Natural England and Nature Scot to begin an English reintroduction in partnership with Forestry England, based on the Isle of Wight. A feasibility report was submitted to both Natural England and Nature Scot as part of the licence applications. The initial licence permitted the release of up to 60 young eagles on the Isle of Wight over a five year period, beginning in 2019. It is hoped that a small population of 6-8 breeding pairs will become established within 60km of the Isle of Wight, with birds spreading east and west along the South Coast.
What does the project involve?
The project is a partnership between Forestry England and the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation. The project team is supported by a steering group with representatives from a range of stakeholder groups, including conservation, farming and game shooting.
Juvenile White-tailed Eagles, aged approximately 5-7 weeks, are collected under licence, from nests in Scotland and translocated to the Isle of Wight in June. They are then held in a quiet, confidential, location for approximately five-six weeks before being released. The eagles are fitted with satellite tags before they are released, to allow us to monitor their movements. Food – mainly fish – is provided close to the release site during the autumn and winter before the young eagles become independent.
To date, a total of 37 birds have been released, with efforts hampered by the avian influenza outbreak in 2022 and 2023 in particular. As a result, NatureScot and Natural England granted licence extensions, allowing a further two years of releases on the Isle of Wight.
The project reached a major milestone in 2023 when a pair of translocated eagles raised a chick at a confidential location for the first time. The young eagle, G625, was the first to fledge from a nest in southern England for over 240 years. A further two chicks fledged from the same site in 2024. Three other territorial pairs are now also established, all located within the expected natal dispersal range of 60km. A pair of 2019-released birds are resident on the Isle of Wight and nearby Solent shoreline, while two 2020 birds have settled at Poole Harbour in Dorset. Two 2021 birds have also paired up in Dorset.
In time, re-establishing a population of White-tailed Eagles in southern England will help to link expanding populations in Scotland and Ireland with those in the Netherlands and France. Evidence from lowland Europe, shows that the species will readily nest in densely populated areas, close to people and we have been encouraged by how well the eagles have fitted into the English landscape.
What do the eagles eat?
As a generalist predator White-tailed Eagles favour fish and water birds and scavenge carrion, varying their diet according to whatever is most seasonally abundant. Studies across Europe have shown that fish are favoured when available, particularly in spring and summer, with waterbirds becoming more important in autumn and winter.
We have closely studied the diet of the eagles since the project began and have amassed a very large database of feeding observations. This has enabled us to determine what the eagles are eating, and how prey is acquired. This research has shown that carrion is very important for young eagles, but that fish are increasingly favoured as they mature. The White-tailed Eagle’s preference for fishing in shallow water means estuarine areas along the South Coast are favoured fishing grounds, with seasonally abundant species such as Grey Mullet and European Bass, regularly caught. They have also become adept at catching Cuttlefish, which spawn in seagrass beds along the coast. You can read more about the eagles’ diet here.
White-tailed Eagles prefer the ‘sit and wait’ strategy for acquiring food, and satellite tracking data has shown that they spend around 90% of each day perched. Waterbirds become habituated to their presence in estuarine and other wetland sites, and breeding colonies of gulls and terns are effective at mobbing and driving off passing eagles.
Have there been any cases of livestock predation?
There have been no cases of livestock predation or reports of damage from the game shoots or fisheries since the project began. Several groups from these sectors have representatives on the project steering group, providing them with the opportunity to give their views, and to hear updates from the project team.
Where can you see the White-tailed Eagles?
In addition to the conservation and ecological benefits of restoring a lost apex predator, we believe that the project will give a significant boost to the Isle of Wight and wider South Coast economy, including in winter. In Scotland eagle tourism is extremely popular and recent reports have shown White-tailed Eagles generate up to £5 million to the economy of the Isle of Mull each year, and £2.4 million to the Isle of Skye.
It is now possible to see White-tailed Eagles in several locations in southern England. The charity Birds of Poole Harbour run boat trips throughout the year to look for eagles and other species at Poole Harbour. They are often rewarded with excellent views of two eagles released in 2020, G463 and G466 which have paired and taken up residence.
Members of the public also frequently observe eagles at RSPB Arne in Dorset and RSPB Pulborough Brooks in West Sussex, which are both nature reserves with excellent visitor facilities. At present, it is not possible to direct visitors to view eagles at specific localities on the Isle of Wight but an MSc thesis undertaken by a student from Kent University found that as many as 10% of visitors list White-tailed Eagles as a reason to visit; not insignificant considering two million people visited the Isle of Wight as tourists in 2022.
These encouraging early signs suggest that White-tailed Eagles are likely to contribute positively to the cultural identity and economy of the region in the years ahead. We are delighted that a huge White-tailed Eagle mural by artist Alice Malia, now adorns the Columbine Building in East Cowes on the Isle of Wight.
Where have the birds gone after release?
All of the eagles that have been released from the Isle of Wight have been fitted with Ornitella GSM satellite transmitters to enable us to track their dispersal and movements.
Most of the birds have remained on the Isle of Wight or moved across the Solent to the Hampshire shoreline during their first winter, though some have dispersed further during the autumn and then wintered elsewhere in southern England. Young White-tailed Eagles are extremely nomadic and most of the immature eagles have dispersed widely from early spring of their second calendar year. Several birds have spent prolonged periods in northern Scotland while another crossed the English Channel and spent two successive summers in mainland Europe, visiting various locations on the Wadden Sea coasts of Netherlands, Germany and Denmark. Another bird also made a short visit to northern France in spring 2024. The satellite tracking data has shown that individuals often return to the same areas in successive years.
All of the released birds have gravitated back to the South Coast as they approach breeding age, and to date four territorial pairs have become established, all within the expected natal dispersal zone of 60km.
What has been the public response?
The public response to the reintroduction of White-tailed Eagles has been overwhelming positive, with the vast majority of people excited to see this spectacular species back in southern England. Furthermore, none of the concerns expressed at the beginning of the project have materialised. The eagles have not disrupted the bird populations of the Solent; they are capable of living in densely populated parts of England; there is plentiful and varied wild food; and there has been no detrimental impacts on agriculture. It has been very encouraging that they have fitted into the English landscape so well.
To quantify how perceptions of the project have changed since the project began, Forest Research replicated the public perception survey that supported the initial licence application. The report demonstrated that the public were even more in favour of the project than in 2019, with 93% of respondents saying they were supportive of the project, up from 86% in 2019. You can read the full report here.
What is the survival rate of the released birds?
A total of 37 juvenile White-tailed Eagles have been released to date and of these birds, 22 are still alive, as shown the table below. This gives an overall survival rate to date of 48%, when only birds of at least one year of age are considered. It is encouraging that survival of birds in the two oldest cohorts (50% for 2019 and 57% for 2020) remains higher than expected (c35%) based on corresponding figures for the Scottish reintroduction and that four pairs have become established in highly suitable breeding localities.
Although almost equal numbers of the sexes had been released by 2023, there has been higher mortality of male birds. The overall survival of males aged at least one year is currently 36%, while the corresponding figure for females is 60%. As a result, the collection of juveniles in 2024 was biased towards males. A further two years of releases are planned on the Isle of Wight. It is not clear why there has been a lower survival rate among males and this may simply be due to chance. There have a been a range of causes of death, including two cases of poisoning, avian influenza, a train strike and a power line strike.
| Year | Number released | Survival | |||||
| Males | Females | Total | Males | Females | Total | % | |
| 2019 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 50% |
| 2020 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 57% |
| 2021 | 4 | 8 | 12 | 1 | 4 | 5 | 42% |
| 2022 | No translocation due to Avian Influenza outbreak | ||||||
| 2023 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 50% |
| 2024 | 6 | 2 | 8 | ||||
| Total | 20 | 17 | 37 | 5* | 9* | 14* | 48%* |
Phase two – reinforcement of establishing population
The project to date has demonstrated that England is highly suitable for White-tailed Eagles, mirroring the growing population in the Netherlands and other parts of lowland Europe. Nevertheless, we believe it is important to maintain commitment to full restoration of the species by translocation; rearing and releasing young eagles in other areas of southern England in a coordinated manner. It is our view that eagle hotspots, identified by the satellite tracking data, should be the focus of further release of young birds in order to facilitate the geographical expansion of the establishing English population.
After careful examination of the reintroduced eagles’ movements and behaviour, we consider South-West England and East Anglia to be the most suitable areas. These are the two key English regions within which immature birds have lingered for prolonged periods and lie beyond the area in which Isle of Wight birds are likely to settle. Sex-based differences in natal dispersal, and the importance of conspecific attraction in White-tailed Eagle settlement patterns means that wild-fledged and translocated birds are more likely to settle greater distances from their natal site if they encounter other eagles.
Evidence from the Isle of Wight project indicates that coastal locations, or inland areas close to large areas of freshwater, with woodland nearby, are best. It is clear that prey availability in southern England is high and this, combined with more benign climatic conditions, should ensure that the productivity of breeding pairs is higher than in Scotland, which will lead to more young birds being recruited to the pool of potential breeders.
South-West England
White-tailed Eagles have been regular visitors to South-West England since the Isle of Wight project began. Analysis of satellite tracking data has shown that favoured areas are Exmoor, Bodmin Moor – particularly Colliford Lake – and the estuaries of South Devon and South Cornwall, which all lie outside the expected natal dispersal distance of White-tailed Eagles released on the Isle of Wight. As such, we propose a series of small scale releases at favoured locations.
Initial fieldwork, and discussions with a range of stakeholders, have been extremely positive and a potential release site has been identified in Exmoor National Park. A rolling programme of releases at a further two sites would then follow.
Exmoor
Seven White-tailed Eagles have lingered on Exmoor since the project first began, including G405, the female which has bred successfully for the past two summers. The north coast of Exmoor, which extends for 37 miles with expansive areas of coastal woodland – the longest stretch in England and Wales – and abundant marine fish species including Grey Mullet, and European Bass, provides highly suitable breeding habitat, and there is a wealth of quiet areas for loafing immature birds across the national park. Research by Evans et al. (2012) demonstrates that White-tailed Eagles formerly bred along the Exmoor coast.
We would plan to release up to 20 birds over a three year period, using the same methodology as the Isle of Wight. This will require a licence from Natural England and permission from NatureScot to continue translocating birds from Scotland. A release site has been identified on land owned by Exmoor National Park, but as on the Isle of Wight, this site will remain confidential.
The project would be run in partnership with Exmoor National Park. If a licence is granted then a local steering group would be set-up in the same way as on the Isle of Wight.
Find out more – public drop-in sessions
We will be holding two public drop-in sessions to enable local people to meet the team, find out more about White-tailed Eagles, learn how the project would work, and to express their views. These events will be held at the Exmoor National Park Information Centres as follows:
Dunster – Friday 22 November, 5-8pm
Dunster Steep, TA24 6SE
What 3 Words: powering.ringside.obstinate
Lynmouth – Saturday 23 November, 11am-2pm
Lynmouth Pavilion, The Esplanade, EX35 6EQ
What 3 Words: since.tells.repelled
We hope to see you there!
You can also give your views by completing a short questionnaire here.
