Three white-tailed eagles carrying the hopes of a species reintroduction scheme in England have disappeared under suspicious circumstances, leaving behind only their damaged satellite tags.
One of the missing birds was a chick born in the wild this year, one of the first to fledge from a wild nest in southern England for more than 240 years.
The missing birds are part of a project led by Forestry England and the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation to reintroduce the lost species to England. They had all been tagged with satellite trackers and their disappearance is being investigated by several police forces and the National Wildlife Crime Unit.
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The return of white-tailed eagles to England is one of the country’s leading conservation successes over recent years. Since 2019, 45 white-tailed eagles have been released on the Isle of Wight.
Several breeding pairs have formed, with six chicks being born in the wild in England for the first time since 1780. Any targeting of the birds could affect the long-term success of the project.
In September the trackers of two eagles were found dumped close to the birds’ last recorded locations. Both had been cut off the birds using a sharp instrument. In the case of another eagle, its tag has stopped sending data. The last message received from the device was on November 8, and no sightings of the bird have been recorded since then.
Tim Mackrill, of the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation, said: “We monitor the satellite data, showing the bird’s minute-by-minute movements, on a daily basis and always investigate any suspicious or unusual data. It was devastating to find the stolen and dumped tags, particularly for the chick in Sussex who fledged this summer and had only just begun its life.”
White-tailed eagles are Britain’s largest birds of prey, with a wingspan of up to 2.5 metres, and were once widespread across England.
Under licence from Natural England, birds set for release are collected from wild nests in Scotland, where populations are in healthy numbers. The chicks are subsequently reared and released on the Isle of Wight after being fitted with satellite tags costing about £1,000 and weighing 50g, equivalent to ten 20p coins.
Controversy over the eagles’ reintroduction has centred on some farmers’ fears they will target livestock. In August a farmer in South Uist claimed that eagles had taken his five Shetland pony foals. Investigators found no evidence to support the claims.
This summer a record three white-tailed eagle chicks successfully fledged from two wild nests in England. They included the first chick in Dorset for more than 240 years, and two chicks raised in a nest in Sussex.
The parent birds of the single male Dorset chick were released from the Isle of Wight in 2020, settled in Dorset and paired up in 2023. This was their first successful breeding attempt.
White-tailed eagle chicks spotted in a nest in Sussed
The two female chicks that fledged this year from a nest in Sussex are the offspring of two white-tailed eagles released by the project in 2020, who raised the first white-tailed eagle chick to be born in southern England for 243 years in 2023. A further two chicks were born in the summer of 2024.
On September 26, a satellite tag belonging to one of this year’s Sussex chicks was recovered from the River Rother, near Petersfield, east Hampshire. It had been removed with a sharp instrument. Sussex police are appealing for information from anyone who was in or around Harting Down and Petersfield on the evening of September 20.
Dyfed-Powys police are investigating a similar incident in Wales on September 13, when a satellite tag belonging to a released white-tailed eagle was recovered in remote moorland around Gwgia reservoir, near Tregynon, Powys. The tag had also been removed with a sharp instrument before being hidden in an apparent attempt to dispose of it.
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In a third incident, concerns are growing for a female eagle after its tag stopped working on November 8. The last transmission was sent in the Moorfoot Hills, south of Edinburgh. Police Scotland are treating the disappearance as suspicious.
White-tailed eagles are a protected species under the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act and disturbing, destroying or interfering with them and their nests are criminal offences.
There are about 200 breeding pairs in Scotland. Of the 25 birds released in England from 2019 to 2021, 11 are still alive, which is about the survival rate that was expected. A further 20 birds have been released over the past two years; 17 of these young eagles are still alive.