Re-introduction of White-tailed Eagles to Britain - wildlife success story or misguided biodiversity blunder?

 

White-tailed eagle - a law unto itself? 

HAS the re-introduction of White-tailed Eagles to parts of Great Britain proved to be an unmitigated biodiversity success?

Not necessarily so according to raptor expert Nick Williams who has spent much of his life photographing this and other birds of prey.

In an illustrated talk to the 2023 annual meeting of Lincolnshire Bird Club, he attributed the loss of both Fulmar and Shag colonies on North Uist in the Outer Hebrides to predation by these tenacious and powerful opportunists.

Even the remains of a Hen Harrier have turned up in the nest of a White-tailed Eagle.

Now he fears that Golden Eagles, which are smaller, may be bullied out of their traditional breeding and feeding sites by the spread of their cousins which have become increasingly adaptable to different kinds of habitat, both coastal and inland.

Nick's comments sparked spirited discussion among club members, with some claiming that the two species co-existed in other parts of Europe while one said video evidence revealed that White-tailed eagles were now preying on breeding divers on Scottish lochs.

This latest flurry of controversy comes in the wake of concerns about the extent to which White-tailed Eagles released a few years ago on the Isle of Wight are preying on livestock and native wildlife.

The organisation at the forefront of the White-tailed Eagle re-introduction programme is the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation which also sought to reintroduce birds the Wild Ken Hill rewilding reserve in North Norfolk.

However, the plan was dropped after landowners and farmers objected, with some fearing that free-range piglets would be targeted as prey.

There was also speculation, unverified, that the decisive influence was that  of  the Royal Family, or certain of its members, who persuaded organisations to withdraw support lest the eagles should  prey on Pheasants, Partridges and Woodcocks which are quarry for shooting parties on Norfolk's  Sandringham Estate.

According to Norfolk ornithologist Nick Acheson - author of The Meaning of Geese - the Wild Ken Hill project may, in any case, already have become redundant.

White-tailed Eagles - probably wanderers from the Isle of Wight -  are regularly seen on or around the Norfolk Coast, possibly attracted by large numbers of Pink-footed geese, and it may be only a matter of time before they establish a breeding presence.   

Elsewhere in Britain, the Conservative MP for Workington, Mark Jenkinson,  has called for the reintroduction of the species to Cumbria, while researchers at Cardiff University are exploring the feasibility of re-introducing both eagle species to Wales.  

* Photo: Christoph Müller via Wikimedia Commons

(http://www.christophmueller.org)

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