A record three white-tailed eagle chicks have successfully fledged from two wild nests in England, including the first in Dorset for over two centuries.
The chicks were reared by white-tailed eagles released into the wild by a pioneering conservation project by Forestry England and the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation to return the lost species to England.
Two different pairs of white-tailed eagles successfully bred this year, including the first chick in Dorset for more than 240 years, and two chicks raised in a nest in Sussex.
• Frisa, Scotland’s oldest white-tailed eagle, dies aged 32
A single male chick fledged from a nest in Dorset. The parent birds were released from the Isle of Wight in 2020, settled in Dorset and paired up in 2023. This is their first successful breeding attempt and made more surprising by the fact that the father has only one leg after losing the other four years ago.
Two chicks, both females, fledged this year from a nest in Sussex. Both are the offspring of two white-tailed eagles released by the project in 2020.
This year’s successful breeding brings the number of these birds born in the wild through the project to six. In 2023 a single chick was born, the first in England since the 18th century when the species was lost due to persecution. A further two chicks were born in the summer of 2024.
All of the chicks are fitted with satellite tags so that the project team can track their progress. Over the last year they have used satellite data to follow the fledglings as they have explored widely across the UK.
The white-tailed eagle stands guard at its nest in Dorset, where it is raising the first chick in the county or 240 years
PA
White-tailed eagles typically reach breeding maturity at about four or five years old. From the birds released by the project, three pairs have formed and established territories in southern England. Several of the younger birds are also present in potential future breeding areas typically close to freshwater wetlands or the coast, where the birds can catch fish, which is their preferred food.
In time, it is hoped that a population of six to ten breeding pairs will become established within 60km of the release site on the Isle of Wight.
Roy Dennis, founder of the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation, said: “This is a long-term project and it will take some years before the population is fully restored, but the progress made over the last year has been incredibly encouraging. We have some well-established pairs and two that are actively breeding. We hope to build on this progress and I’m really pleased that we have been able to release an additional eight birds this year to further boost the population.
“I always find it particularly rewarding to see so much support for these magnificent birds and the positive impact they are having on so many people’s relationship with the natural world.”
Steve Egerton-Read, project officer for Forestry England, said that it was “such an exciting time but also incredibly nerve wracking”.
He added: “We hope that in years to come these iconic birds will become a much more common sight, inspiring future generations and deepening their connection with nature.”
• White-tailed eagles are set to return — and farmers aren’t happy
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, but human persecution caused their extinction. The last breeding pair were recorded in 1780 in southern England.
In 2019 Forestry England and the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation began reintroducing the birds to the English landscape. To date, 45 young white-tailed eagles have been released. This includes eight released this summer from the team’s base on the Isle of Wight.
The reintroduction of white-tailed eagles is conducted under licence from Natural England, the government’s wildlife licensing authority. Birds for release are collected from wild nests in Scotland under licence from NatureScot before being transported to England with valuable support from Civil Air Support.
The birds are subsequently reared and released on the Isle of Wight, all birds released by the project are fitted with satellite tags.
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.
The specific locations of this year’s nests are not being disclosed in order to ensure the welfare of the birds and to prevent any disturbance to them or the landowner this year or if the birds return to breed at the same location.