Earlier this month the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation and the Forestry Commission announced a proposal to reintroduce white-tailed eagles to the Isle of Wight (see here).
The National Farmers Union has been having its say about the proposal (see here).
Now’s your chance to have your say.
A very short online questionnaire is open for your comments (but note it will close tonight, presumably at midnight). The questionnaire results, along with a scientific and conservation rationale, will form part of a feasibility report to Natural England and Scottish Natural Heritage as part of the licensing application.
Take part in the questionnaire HERE
Frequently asked questions about the proposal can be read here
Raptor Persecution UK 
As an Isle of Wight resident I can report strong support for this plan on the island. Some (not all) farmers have expressed concerns, and these can and will be addressed. They’re not show-stoppers at all. The island is relatively safe, with thriving buzzard, peregrine etc populations. Ample food in and around the Solent, and lots of enthusiasm for creating eagle ‘restaurants’ (assuming they’d use such places?). Red squirrel folks are supportive on the whole (as it’s been demonstrated that eagles won’t target living red squirrels, which are numerous on the Isle of Wight. We can see lots of economic opportunities which the island needs.
The more people who complete the questionnaire, the better!
It might also help if people expressed their opinion direct to Michael Gove, who’s in charge of Forestry Commission England (which is the project proponent alongside Roy Dennis, and has been full of enthusiasm when I’ve met their reps) and Natural England (which’ll issue the licence for the reintroduction component). Gove has obviously been supportive of beaver reintroduction, and appears to ‘get it’, but is being intensely lobbied by the national NFU.
Twitter – @michaelgove [Twitter might be most effective as he’s always on it!]
michael.gove.mp@parliament.uk Correspondence.Section@defra.gsi.gov.uk
I have replied to the questionaire fully supporting WTE introduction.
These birds would attract a lot of people to the IoW (easy travelling distance from large population centres). People who have never seen (or never seen close up) any raptor would be blown away by WTE’s.
A lot of people seeing these birds and learning that there are criminals who poison, trap and shoot them would be incensed.
Just completed the questionnaire in which I made a reference to the ludicrous claims about sea eagles taking lambs on the Gairloch peninsula, which proved to be utter crap. Funnily enough this morning used BBC iPlayer to watch an edition of the gaelic language Trusadh which looked at the return of the sea eagle. Generally positive, but of course they interviewed some crofters on Raasay who made strong claims about how many lambs they were losing to see eagles (and why sheep are needed to manage the land and prevent fires!). They want to be able to cull SEs! What got me was that their claims weren’t challenged and wouldn’t it have been better to report the full story of what happened at Gairloch, 58 lambs radio collared and not one taken by SEs? Incidentally before the SE came along weren’t many of the crofters saying golden eagles were taking the lambs? This is why from the viewpoint of restoring the land and wildlife I’m not convinced land reform will lead to significant improvement automatically and I don’t think wrecking them by the many not the few is any better than the present situation. Shouldn’t acknowledgement of the way wildlife and land have been exploited and need to recover be the central tenet for the change that needs to be made and that all of us need to take responsibility for it? So predictable that yet again NFU tries to chuck a spanner in the works – farmers the perpetual victims of course. I loved in the People’s Manifesto for Wildlife when it just came straight out and said how awful the NFU is – magic!
Great to see Isle of Wight residents posting in favour. I have visited the island many times and as a photographer would do so more often, sad to see excuses from our beloved farmers, surely this would help tourism, local businesses etc.
Done it
Please do
This is a great idea. Having been born and brought up in the Southsea area of Portsmouth, I would have loved to have been able to see these putting the gulls to flight. Bring it on!
The Forestry Commission’s enthusiasm is great. In my area they have just announced their 10 year plan for the woods that comprise my main ringing sites. No more clear felling, replacement of foreign species with British ones, and habitat management to benefit named key species, of which the Marsh Tit, one of my target study species, is the priority bird species.
As I predicted, the subsidy – sodden farming pseudo – industry is whingeing at the prospect of a tiny increase in biodiversity, which after all they were responsible for exterminating originally.
Oh … and don’t worry red squirrel fans, WTE are largely scavengers and incapable of predating squirrels – unless of course they decide to swim the Solent to escape the farmers !
Eyes on the prize – WTE and Osprey nesting again on the south coast within 8 years…….
Keep up the pressure !
The leading squirrel defender on the island, Helen Butler, is actually speculating that eagles might create a landscape of fear for buzzards, which might in turn benefit the squirrels by reducing predation! Of buzzards aren’t taking live squirrels on the island either…..
Done it. I hope we can make progress.
Doug
Hi,
I’ve just tried to do the survey and it has already ‘CLOSED’. I think it would be a great idea to reintroduce these wonderful birds to the Isle of Wight.
Please keep up your great work. Whilst I find many of your emails harrowing to read, I think you provide a vital service to all nature lovers and suspect, without your regular communications, the rich and selfish estate owners and those that use them to kill defenceless wildlife would kill anything. They have no respect for alternative views and belong in the middle ages not the 21st Century.
Kind regards,
Mike Cheesman
Also signed of course, from a link on Twitter. Mentioned how benefits would include watching Pug owners panicking as they see the ‘Barn door’ flying over. (Sorry Pug owners, other lapdogs also available, but they and their fans are just wrong!).
Why is your questionaire closed when I only got the email today? I think it would be crazy to introduce White-tailed Eagles to the IoW. The Solent is an extremely busy shipping area and the English Channel is fairly busy. The IoW is a very busy holiday resort. Totally unsuitable. Just across a narrow strip of water is Portsmouth snd Southampton – very densely built up areas. Yes there are wooded areas suitable for nesting but this is not where they get food. The Solent and the English Channel are at high risk of pollution due to shipping and the Fawley oil refinery. There are already problems with the farmers in Scotland, what do you think is going to happen here?Yours,Helen Mullineux
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
Hi Helen
You seem to have the wrong end of the stick. This isn’t ‘our’ questionnaire – we were simply promoting it.
If you want to contact the project team behind the proposed reintroduction to let them know your views their contact details can be found here:
http://www.roydennis.org/
Hi Helen
As an Isle of Wight resident I can assure you that the island is not ‘totally unsuitable’. The Solent estuaries and shoreline along the northern coast of the island are, actually, some of the quietest such systems on the south coast, as visitor data attest. Some parts are heavily disturbed in summer of course – Ryde Sands for example – but we have active land slippages elsewhere which seriously curtail access to many shorelines. We are busy in summer, but access is restricted in many areas. My own birding patch, in the Undercliff at St Lawrence, is incredibly quiet year-round despite a high-quality coastal path along the cliff top. The Solent is busy but that doesn’t dissuade ospreys from visiting the Solent and its estuaries on passage and during the summer – we have ospreys summering and spending long stays as they pass through. That suggests that they, at least, find food and quiet spots to hang out. You don’t say why boats on the Solent per se would be a problem for open water fishing birds of prey – I see WTE and osprey hunting on pretty busy open water systems elsewhere. My house overlooks the channel from Ventnor and it’s not at all busy – aside from innumerable feeding gannets! I can’t see how pollution risk is a major threat: the Solent is an SPA and SAC, full of wintering waterfowl and waders, and of international importance for nearshore and marine biodiversity. It’s full of life! You’re correct to point out that Southampton is nearby, but so too is the New Forest and Purbeck, and the island itself is largely countryside.
Some farmers have expressed concerns but others are enthusiastic about opportunities. Island sheep owners expressing concerns number fewer than ten. Their concerns need to be addressed, and they can be. Many others have an interest and should also be heard.
Best wishes,
Steve
There have been very unpleasant and derisive comments made about this proposal, largely I might add by those supporting it. I am one of those IoW residents who someone dismissed as not needing to be won over, but I do have a right to be heard.
I object to a project, promoted by a few rapture enthusiasts, which aims to introduce predators long since disappeared. Why not spend the time & money helping our existing bird populations, those deemed “common” but which are disappearing right NOW. I’m referring to garden and woodland birds. But then they don’t elicit the thrill which raptures seem to generate in some people.
And I dislike those who try to sound like they speak for everyone.