{"id":35295,"date":"2026-05-13T10:16:16","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T10:16:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/35295\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T10:16:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T10:16:16","slug":"britains-largest-bird-of-prey-to-return-to-exmoor-skies-despite-farmers-concerns-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/35295\/","title":{"rendered":"Britain\u2019s largest bird of prey to return to Exmoor skies despite farmer\u2019s concerns"},"content":{"rendered":"

The majestic white-tailed eagle<\/a>, the UK’s largest bird of prey, is set to return to southern England with a new reintroduction scheme in Exmoor National Park<\/a>, the government has confirmed.<\/p>\n

Up to 20 young birds<\/a> will be released over three years, boosting the species’ comeback after being pushed to extinction across the country.<\/p>\n

These magnificent raptors, nicknamed “flying barn doors” for their impressive 8ft (2.4m) wingspan, were once widespread in southern England<\/a> until persecution wiped them out in the 18th century.<\/p>\n

This initiative builds on a project by Forestry England and the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation, which began reintroducing white-tailed eagles on the Isle of Wight<\/a> in 2019, aiming to restore the long-lost species to the region’s skies.<\/p>\n

The birds have previously been successfully reintroduced in Scotland<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Government conservation agency Natural England has approved licences for Forestry England and Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation to work with Exmoor National Park Authority to release birds from the national park, in addition to ongoing releases on the Isle of Wight.<\/p>\n

Releases of young birds will take place from both locations this summer, Natural England said.<\/p>\n

\"White<\/p>\n

White tailed eagles are the UK\u2019s biggest bird of prey and are nicknamed \u2018flying barn doors\u2019 (Alamy\/PA) (Alamy\/PA)<\/p>\n

Exmoor has been chosen as an additional release site to boost the number of birds in the wild and expand their breeding range into south-west England, in an area where it is known the species formerly bred along the coastline.<\/p>\n

Data from satellite trackers attached to released eagles showed several have frequently visited the area, which provides suitable habitat for the birds that are also known as \u201csea eagles\u201d and are frequently found around coastline and large open water bodies.<\/p>\n

Some 45 young white-tailed eagles have been released from the Isle of Wight since the scheme began, with the first pair breeding successfully in 2023 and fledging the first chick to have been born in the wild in England for more than 240 years.<\/p>\n

A further five chicks have been born in the wild since.<\/p>\n

Roy Dennis, founder of the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation, said: \u201cWhite-tailed eagles were once a common sight in England but were lost centuries ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis project is reversing that situation, and I am delighted that we will be able to release additional birds this year and boost their numbers in the wild.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stephen Egerton-Read, white-tailed eagle project manager at Forestry England<\/a>, said: \u201cSeven years on from the start of this project, these birds have begun to successfully return to the English landscape \u2013 forming pairs, establishing territories and breeding.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdding additional releases at Exmoor will help to boost their numbers and continue their spread across southern England.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe hope that in years to come these iconic birds will become a much more common sight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds said: \u201cThe return of white\u2011tailed eagles to Exmoor is a powerful example of this Government\u2019s commitment to reversing the decline of nature and protecting it for generations to come,\u201d pointing to \u00a390 million invested into species recovery.<\/p>\n

Natural England national delivery director Matthew Heard said it was a \u201chugely exciting step\u201d in restoring landscapes.<\/p>\n

Ali Hawkins, senior ecologist with Exmoor National Park Authority, said: \u201cExmoor, with its long expanse of coastal woodland, provides some amazing habitat for white-tailed eagles,\u201d adding that the authority was committed to working with farmers and others to support them in adapting to the birds.<\/p>\n

Despite concerns in some quarters that the birds could prey on livestock such as lambs, a study into the food the Isle of Wight birds are eating showed they were targeting prey such as cuttlefish, rabbits, fish and other birds, and there were \u201cno conflicts\u201d with farming,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The majestic white-tailed eagle, the UK’s largest bird of prey, is set to return to southern England with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35296,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[16347,13,173,16341,16343,7776,16344,16345,16342,3168,16346],"class_list":{"0":"post-35295","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-britain","8":"tag-bird-of-prey","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-exmoor-national-park","12":"tag-forestry-england","13":"tag-isle-of-wight","14":"tag-natural-england","15":"tag-roy-dennis","16":"tag-roy-dennis-wildlife-foundation","17":"tag-southern-england","18":"tag-white-tailed-eagle"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116566752195163030","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}