Isle of Wight white-tailed eagle flies over Kintyre
A young white-tailed eagle released on the Isle of Wight as part of an English reintroduction programme has flown over Kintyre during a return journey south.
Released in spring 2020, the young eagle headed north to Scotland with an attached GPS device which allows researchers to track and plot its movements and habits.
After spending nine months in Scotland, it flew over Kintyre and Arran earlier this month, before continuing south where it was photographed on Thursday February 10 over Belvide in Staffordshire.
It is not the only white-tailed eagle to visit Kintyre – on Monday this week, Gigha resident Keith Wilson reported two of the birds soaring over rocks to the west of Leim Beach, sharing a photograph and videos in the Gigha Noticeboard Facebook group. With a wingspan of between 1.8 metres and 2.4 metres, whitetailed eagles, known as sea eagles, are the largest UK bird of prey.
They are well established in Russia and Norway but were driven to extinction in the UK.
Since reintroduction in Scotland in 1975, they are thought to number around 140 breeding pairs which have legal protection from being persecuted.
While news of increased sightings may be welcomed by fans of the majestic birds, it will no doubt cause concern for sheep farmers who blame them for killing their livestock. Last year, Mull farmer Fiona Boa lost five lambs in just one week to the rewilded birds that she and others say have become ‘far too densely populated’ on the island, while Minard farmers Ricky and Kirsten Rennie said their sheep flock was being ‘decimated’ by attacks from the birds.
At the time, NFU Scotland said more needed to be done to deliver a revised White-tailed Eagle Action Plan, led by NatureScot.
The union wrote to the nature agency voicing frustration that despite efforts to try out ways to deter predators, lambs were continuing to be lost, with some farmers and crofters experiencing substantial impacts on their flocks. As yet, there has been no revised action plan.
In a bid to reintroduce the sea eagles into England, the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation, in partnership with Forestry England, has released 25 birds into the wild since 2019.
The bird which flew over Kintyre was one of 12 released last year.