Press release from Forestry England (17 December 2025)
THREE WHITE-TAILED EAGLES DISAPPEAR IN SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES
The public are being asked to help the police investigate the suspicious disappearance of three white-tailed eagles. The cases include a chick born in the wild earlier this year in Sussex, one of the first white-tailed eagles to fledge in England for hundreds of years.
The missing birds are part of a project led by Forestry England and the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation to reintroduce this lost species to England. Their disappearance is being investigated by several police forces and the National Wildlife Crime Unit.
The return of white-tailed eagles to England is one of the country’s key conservation successes over recent years. Since 2019, 45 white- tailed eagles have been released. Several breeding pairs have formed with six chicks being born in the wild for the first time since the 1780’s. Any targeting of the birds will potentially impact the long-term success of the project.
All of the released birds are tagged with satellite trackers allowing the team to closely follow their location and movements. In September the trackers of two eagles were found dumped close to the birds’ last recorded location. 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 8 November and no sightings of the bird have been recorded since then.
Tim Mackrill from 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. So many people in the area had shared the joy of seeing these birds breed again after hundreds of years and our ongoing monitoring has shown how well they were fitting into the landscape. To have that destroyed just a few months later is deeply shocking“.
Steve Egerton-Read, White-Tailed Eagle Project Officer for Forestry England, said: “We are returning this lost species to the English landscape and have had so much support from the public. These special birds are helping people connect with natural world and showing how with a little bit of help nature can thrive. We are asking the public to show this support again by encouraging anyone who has information that may help the police investigation to come forward“.
There was tremendous public support and local pride this summer when two white-tailed eagle chicks fledged from a nest in Sussex. Both were the offspring of eagles released by the project in 2020 and the first pair to successfully breed in England for over 240 years. The two chicks had spent the first few months of their lives exploring the local West Sussex area.
On 26 September, a satellite tag belonging to one of the chicks (G842) was recovered from the River Rother, near Petersfield. It had been removed from the bird using a sharp instrument. Searches in the area to try and locate the body of the bird have so far been unsuccessful.
Sussex Police are appealing for information from anyone who was in or around Harting Down and Petersfield on the evening of 20 September 2025. Any members of the public who may have seen the bird or any suspicious behaviour can contact them on 101 or 0800 555 111 quoting incident number 769.
Dyfed Powys Police are investigating a similar incident on 13 September, where a satellite tag belonging to white-tailed eagle G615 was recovered in remote moorland. The tag had been removed with a sharp instrument before being hidden in an attempt to dispose of it. Searches in the area to try and locate the body of the bird have so far been unsuccessful.
The force is interested in hearing from anyone who was at or around the Gwgia Reservoir, Tregynon between 11am and 1pm or on access land near Bryn y Fawnog between 12 noon and 3pm on 13 September. Callers should quote crime reference number 137.
In a third incident, concerns are growing for G819 after its tag, which usually transmits the data daily, has stopped working. The last transmission was sent on 8 November in the Moorfoot Hills area. Police Scotland are treating the disappearance as suspicious and asking anyone with information to contact them on 101 or 0800 555 111 quoting incident number PS-20251215-1347.
The reintroduction of white-tailed eagles is conducted under licence from Natural England, the Government’s wildlife licensing authority. White-tailed eagles are a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981). Disturbing, destroying or interfering with them and their nests are criminal offences.
ENDS
My commentary:
Hands up, who’s surprised?
No, me neither.
These reports are so depressingly familiar these days, we’ve pretty much come to expect them. Although there’s something particularly sickening about killing a White-tailed Eagle. It’s no lesser crime, in the eyes of the law, than killing a more common species like a Buzzard or a Sparrowhawk – the offence is the same and the available penalty is the same. But these eagles, the UK’s largest raptor, have been brought back from the brink through intensive conservation efforts by many people over many decades. Progress has been hard-won, because these birds are slow to mature (between 4-6 yrs) and when they do eventually reproduce they generally only manage to rear one or two chicks per season, on rare occasions three, and they don’t necessarily breed every year, which means that population recovery is slow. Any illegal killing, on top of natural mortality, is obviously going to hamper that reestablishment.
And there’s no doubt whatsoever that at least two of these eagles were the victims of illegal persecution, given the clear evidence that their satellite tags had been cut off and crude attempts were made to hide them. Given the area in south Scotland where the third White-tailed Eagle has vanished, a well-known persecution hotspot, it wouldn’t be a surprise to learn that that bird has also been killed illegally, most likely shot.
Kudos to the White-tailed Eagle Reintroduction team (Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation & Forestry England) for putting out an appeal for information after three months of silence from Dyfed-Powys Police and Sussex Police.
UPDATE 18 December 2025: More detail on the ‘missing’ White-tailed Eagle in south Scotland (here)
UPDATE 19 December 2025: More detail about the missing White-tailed Eagle in mid-Wales (here)
UPDATE 19 December 2025: Fourth White-tailed Eagle ‘disappears’ & RSPB offers £10,000 reward for information leading to a conviction (here)
Raptor Persecution UK 
Reports of these crimes seem to becoming more common and we seem to have at least one a week. I found this in relation to the Moorfoot Hills:
https://raptorpersecutionuk.org/2024/07/15/why-scottish-grouse-moors-will-have-to-stop-slaughtering-golden-eagles-opinion-piece-in-the-scotsman/
There must be some concerted action to prevent more deaths. In addition, the punishments available must be made more appropriate to these savage crimes.
I agree I am not surprised but I am so upset as I live in Petersfield and it has really hit home as so close to me . I so hoped one day to look out my window and see a WTE , people had seen them flying over the town .
We subscribe to this blog …….thought you should know about the first fledged WTE from East Sussex… …Bastards!!Fiona EcclestonSent from my iPad
Frankly it’s not only no surprise about the loss of these beautiful birds, but no less of a surprise that bugger all is being done by the police
In the rural areas so many senior police are Freemasons and other pro hunting groups it’s a wonder that they even accept the incident as a crime at all.
in all seriousness, I feel for the average copper or detective who wants to catch these evil people and get them locked up, but are quietly jumped on from senior officers to “forget it.”
i still believe that a serious answer to this ever continuing problem is xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx
Those who continue to carry out these crimes are laughing behind the backs of wildlife conservators and the general public. I would like to wipe the smiles off their sick faces.
You and me both. There needs to be such penalties that they cannot. Immediate loss of everything would be a good start. A whacking fine that HAS to be paid, serious naming and shaming and 30 years jail no remission on bread and water would see some drastic changes.
So sad and depressing, I have to admit to feeling murderous towards the perpetrators of these crimes
I completely understand that sentiment. The fantasies I entertain if I was diagnosed with a terminal illness…
Tim Farron MP, ex-Leader of the Lib Dems, on the release of White-Tailed Eagles:
“This is a dangerous, poorly thought out move which is an unnecessary threat to animal welfare and we should stop it.“
This type of news was inevitable due to the disinformation propaganda spewed by certain sections of society and failed former party leaders I.e .Tim Farron highlighting nonsense views . I may be wrong but xxxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxxxxx Shameful ………..
Sent from AOL on Android
Thanks so much Ruth for continuing to report all these crimes, which must be depressing work. Without you writing this blog, I for one would not be aware of any of this. It never appears in mainstream news that I read. Hopefully the WTE reintroduction has a high enough profile to trigger some reporting in, for example, local newspapers where the crimes happened.
Hi Phil, my fb page was awash with the news yesterday, from different organisations and news outlets, reading some of the comments, so many die-hard shooting idiots think it’s all a ruse by the RSPB to discredit shooting, I have to stop reading the comments because I get so angry
According to the BBC national News At Six, on this disappearance of three White-Tailed Eagles, “Nobody knows what is going on?”
I wonder if that is because the BBC fail to publicise the longstanding and widespread persecution of raptors throughout the UK by the shooting industry?
As a ‘news gathering organisation’ burying your heads in the sand for decades is not the best way to serve the licence-paying public, is it? Maybe the BBC should just ask their Channel 4 News colleagues what is happening?
These criminals know the UK does not treat these crimes seriously even when the few convictions area secured – succesive governments have made no real efforts to address this despite the mountain of evidence the current courts system is not fit for purpose
I can’t understand why the Roy Dennis Foundation and Forestry Commission didn’t release the information much earlier.
Hi James,
There’s a protocol to follow when reporting on wildlife crime (well, any crime actually) – the principle is that the police need to be given time to launch an initial investigation, conduct searches, interview suspects, undertake forensic work etc, BEFORE the crime is publicised, so as not to provide the offenders an opportunity to hide the evidence, thwart the investigation etc.
The problem we’re seeing is that SOME police forces (not all) are not taking these crimes seriously and quite often won’t issue press releases /appeals for information until many months later. Some of them are not even conducting searches.
In this case, Forestry England & the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation allowed the two police forces plenty of time to investigate and put out appeals for information, and then decided to take the initiative and publicise the disappearances.
If they hadn’t done that, I dare say we might never have been told about these offences.
Thanks, Ruth, for taking the trouble to explain that.
really disheartening not just for the public but the 100s of people involved with getting these magnificent birds back in the British skys, personally I’m not shocked or surprised, here on the north Norfolk coast sea eagles were reintroduced & yes all were killed by poisoning, probably by a local land owning farmer or right hand man the gamekeeper, both that seem to think the wildlife belongs to them, a bird prominently that eats fish! But will take game & a lamb if needs must, but with the local seas depleted again over fishing then the birds will take game, what’s the problem with that? Nothing in my book but to a land owner & the gamekeeper its loss of a good weekend shoot that rich people pay a handsome price to do, its sport & a sick one at that, kill to eat but to kill for fun & not give a toss shows the gentry mentality, I truly hope these scum are caught & our sky’s fill with the magnificent Raptors.
Hi Carl,
As far as I’m aware, the eagles that have turned up on the north Norfolk coast are from the reintroduction project on the Isle of Wight. I’m not aware of any of them being poisoned in Norfolk, and a number of them have been made very welcome on some of the large estates.
“here on the north Norfolk coast sea eagles were reintroduced & yes all were killed by poisoning…”
I think some confusion here. As Ruth has pointed out, and….
https://naturalengland.blog.gov.uk/2021/05/10/white-tailed-eagles-set-for-return-to-east-anglia/
Quickly followed by:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/oct/18/norfolk-white-tailed-eagle-reintroduction-project-cancelled
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/dec/17/police-investigate-after-white-tailed-eagles-go-missing-across-uk
And in local news…
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0kwg9x85ko
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c87lwj35z8do
https://www.countypress.co.uk/news/25703946.white-tailed-eagle-disappearances-treated-suspicious/