Last week I wrote a blog about three separate proposals to release White-tailed Eagles in Cumbria, Wales, Severn Estuary and Exmoor National Park in a strategic attempt to bolster and connect the current populations in Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland and southern England (see here).
A journalist from The Times has picked up on that blog and an article was published yesterday in The Sunday Times featuring quotes from the National Farmers Union (NFU), who, predictably, do not support the proposals.
The article is behind a paywall so I’ve reproduced it below:
The white-tailed eagle was persecuted to extinction in the British Isles by gamekeepers, farmers and collectors over several centuries, culminating in the last known wild bird being shot dead in 1918.
But now the nation’s largest bird of prey could once again become a common sight thanks to a new set of rewilding schemes across England and Wales.
The birds, also known as sea eagles, were first reintroduced to Scotland in the Seventies by conservationists, and a similar effort was started on the Isle of Wight in 2019. Until then, the last recorded breeding pair in southern England was in 1780.
Now these small populations are set to be bolstered and connected by a growing number of separate reintroduction projects planned in Cumbria, Wales, the Severn Estuary and Exmoor.
But the reintroduction of the birds, which are legally protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, has caused a backlash from farming groups and landowners, who claim they could harm their livestock, primarily lambs, and the environmental schemes they already carrying out.
They also want compensation schemes in place should their livestock start falling prey to the fourth largest eagle in the world.
The Welsh farmers union told The Times it does not support efforts to reintroduce the white-tailed eagle, known as the “flying barn door” thanks to its two-metre wingspan.
Hedd Pugh, the NFU Cymru rural affairs board chairman, said there are “no longer any truly wild areas in Wales”, with all the countryside being “a managed landscape — created, shaped and maintained by farmers over generations”.
“There is a real concern that any reintroduction of this species would cause risk to animal health and welfare and have an impact on livestock production, with newborn lambs particularly at risk,” he said.
“There is also the unknown effect the white-tailed eagle could have on other birds, wildlife and protected species.”
Pugh said that NFU Cymru believes species recovery efforts “should firstly focus on supporting species that are already present in Wales before reintroduction is considered.”
After their reintroduction in Scotland 50 years ago, there are now there are an estimated 150 breeding pairs in the country.
Juvenile white-tailed sea eagles can roam 200km beyond their nest site and when settled, the its hunting territory can be up to 70 sq km.
The eagle is found in dozens of European countries, with no substantial recorded problems relating to livestock attacks, but farmers in Scotland have consistently said their lambs are being killed by the reintroduced species.
The Scottish government launched its Sea Eagle Management Scheme in 2015, which gives money to affected farmers, in acknowledgment that lambs are being taken.
A research paper published at the end of 2023, analysing more than 11,000 food fragments found in sea eagle nests, found lamb accounted for 6 per cent of prey items. However, some nests in the study contained more than 30 per cent lamb remains.
Victoria Vyvyan, the president of the Country Land and Business Association, acknowledged reintroducing species can be beneficial but said “it must be backed by clear research and plans to manage risks like predation, otherwise it risks livestock and livelihoods”.
“It’s crucial to listen to rural communities, address their concerns, and offer fair compensation for any losses,” she said. “Conservation must protect the environment without harming those who rely on it for a living.”
The NFU said reintroductions can play a role in delivering nature recovery but highlighted “concerns about the adverse impacts a reintroduction could have”.
Richard Bramley, NFU environment forum chair, has called on the government to develop and implement a framework “which outlines the process it will follow when managing species reintroductions in England to help minimise impact, risks and any unintended consequences”.
“We also ask that where it is shown there will be an impact that this is properly funded,” he said.
In 2019, Natural England granted a licence to release about 60 birds on the Isle of Wight as part of a reintroduction project led by Forestry England and the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation.
The foundation is now considering releasing up to 20 eagles in Exmoor national park over a three year period. The park said it has been doing “a lot of liaison with local landowners and shoots regarding white-tailed eagles already visiting Exmoor”.
The Eagle Reintroduction Wales project is also looking into the feasibility of bringing the eagle back to southeast Wales and the Severn Estuary.
The Cumbrian white-tailed eagle project is exploring the possibility of bringing the birds back to the southern part of Cumbria. The University of Cumbria, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, the Lifescape Project, RSPB, the Wildland Research Institute and the Lake District national park authority want to see their return, after the last recorded white-tailed eagle breeding attempt was near Haweswater in 1787.
Research has already been undertaken to assess prey availability, habitat suitability and a population viability assessment has been completed.
The team is now carrying out a social feasibility study and has launched a questionnaire to evaluate the public’s attitudes and views on a potential reintroduction.
ENDS
I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised that this newspaper only published quotes from those who hold what seem to be ‘anti-eagle’ views – where are the quotes from conservationists with opposing views, or farmers from southern England who have direct experience with the reintroduced WTEs from the Isle of Wight?
And although I’m pleased that journalists from The Times are using this blog as a material source, I’m less impressed that large chunks of my research/writing have been plagiarised and passed off as the journalist’s own work. It’s not a difficult or onerous task to give credit to the original source, e.g. with a simple link.
As for the concerns raised by the NFU and Country Land & Business Association about the proposed releases of White-tailed Eagles – a quick look again at that map showing the widespread dispersal of satellite-tracked WTEs that were released on the Isle of Wight indicates that the eagles are on their way, with or without more releases, and in some cases are already there (Exmoor National Park), although not yet breeding as far as I’m aware.
This map also raises another issue. One of the requirements to justify the translocation of a species is that the species in question shouldn’t be able to get there of its own accord, e.g. through natural expansion of the population.
Given the dispersal capabilities of those WTEs on the coast of southern England, and of the expanding WTE population in Argyll in Scotland, it seems to me it’s quite likely that WTEs will reach these proposed release areas of their own accord sooner rather than later. Sure, translocations would speed things up, but given the proximity of the proposed release areas to where WTEs are already established, I do wonder whether it’d be a good use of valuable funding, as much as I’d like to see WTEs in more places.
Given the academic credentials of all those involved in each of the three release proposals, I don’t doubt that they’ll be giving this careful consideration.
Raptor Persecution UK 