Exmoor asks for public opinion on reintroducing white-tailed eagles

Exmoor National Park Authority (ENPA) is launching a White-tailed Eagle public perception survey and engagement events, to share how it’s partnering with the ‘White Tailed Eagle Reintroduction Programme’ in England led by the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation RDWF and Forestry England, to support conservation of the species.

From 2019 onwards the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation and Forestry England have been working to restore White-tailed Eagles to southern England, through a reintroduction project based on the Isle of Wight, which is licensed by Natural England and NatureScot.

A total of 37 eagles have been released to date and in 2023 a pair bred successfully for the first time. The same pair reared a further two chicks this year, and three other territorial pairs of eagles are now established on the South Coast. It is hoped that this project will lead to the establishment of 6-8 pairs of White-tailed Eagles within 60km of the Isle of Wight.

To support the existing population of these incredible birds the project aims to carry out a small number of additional releases of White-tailed Eagles and is working with ENPA to achieve this in the Exmoor National Park. The hope is that these birds will boost the emerging population of white-tailed eagles along the south coast of England.

The area has been identified as a key location after the presence here of several of the white-tailed eagles released by the project. Satellite tracking shows precise locations of the birds and, over the past few years, Exmoor has become a white-tailed eagles hotspot, with seven different birds visiting. Many people have also been lucky enough to see the birds and logged their sightings.

White-tailed Eagles formerly bred on the coast of Exmoor and the extensive areas of coastal woodland and abundant marine fish species, such as grey mullet, provide exceptional breeding habitat. Extensive research on the diet of the Isle of Wight birds has shown that they favour fish as they mature and begin breeding.

Zoe Smith of the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation, and originally from Exmoor, said: “We've used the satellite tracking data, which provides extremely detailed information on the movements of all the birds we have released on the Isle of Wight, to identify the best areas to support the establishing population through a series of small-scale releases. This has shown that Exmoor is one of the key sites. We think that releasing a small cohort of up to 20 birds over three years would help reinforce the English population by aiding the geographical expansion, and we would like to know what people think of this idea.

“Eagles from the Isle of Wight have been frequent visitors to Exmoor over the past five years and we know that many people have enjoyed seeing them. We can see from how people have reacted to the eagles over recent years, that once they get to know the behaviour of the birds it dispels any concerns surrounding this species. There’s a common fear for example that White-tailed Eagles could predate livestock, but there’s been no record of this since the Isle of Wight project began. As their other common name ‘Sea Eagle’ suggests, they prefer to hunt fish but will also eat birds (including gulls and corvids), small mammals and dead animals (carrion). For young birds, carrion makes up a large proportion of their diet but, by their third year, white-tailed eagles will gravitate towards wetland sites, home to their preferred diet of fish.”

Ali Hawkins senior ecologist for ENPA said: “White-tailed Eagles are an important flagship species in coastal ecosystems and used to be found right across the UK but are now one of our rarest species and listed as a species of Conservation Concern. Working with the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation over the last few years we have been doing a lot of liaison with local landowners and shoots regarding White-tailed Eagles already visiting Exmoor. With its remote wooded coastline, deep incised valleys and abundance of food it’s easy to see why the eagles are choosing to spend time here and people have greatly enjoyed seeing them.

“We’d really like to hear what people think about white-tailed eagles in our public perception survey and invite everyone to come to our events and to talk with the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation and Forestry England who are experts on these birds, and our Exmoor National Park conservation staff and rangers.

“We think that reinforcing the population of these spectacular birds would greatly support our work to make Exmoor richer in wildlife and return an important species to our National Park. Moreover, evidence from projects in Scotland and the South of England shows that eagle tourism is extremely popular and could be of great benefit to the Exmoor economy, especially in winter.”

Steve Egerton-Read from Forestry England said: “White-tailed Eagles are a truly iconic species. The positive reaction that people have had to them since the reintroduction project began in 2019 has been incredible. It demonstrates how returning lost species like this can reconnect people with nature and help support its recovery. We’d encourage anyone interested in finding out more about the project to come along to one of these events and take part in the survey”.

The Exmoor public perception survey can be found here: https://forms.office.com/e/faPyJW3C96