Natural England Approves White-tailed Eagle Reintroduction Exmoor
Natural England approved the white-tailed eagle reintroduction exmoor plan on Wednesday, clearing the way for up to 20 birds to be released across Exmoor National Park over three years from this summer. The birds will all carry satellite tags, and the project is being led by Forestry England and the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation.
Steve Egerton-Read, the white-tailed eagle project manager at Forestry England, said the releases were hoped to help boost numbers and “continue their spread across southern England.” That places the species back into a farming landscape where some livestock owners have already raised concerns about lamb losses.
Exmoor National Park release
Natural England described the plan as “carefully planned” when it approved it on Wednesday. The agency’s decision gives the project a defined scale and timetable: up to 20 white-tailed eagles, released over three years, starting this summer in Exmoor National Park.
All of the birds will be fitted with satellite tags. The monitoring plan means the birds can be tracked as they move through and beyond the park, where the project team expects them to add to the species’ existing presence in southern England.
Forestry England and Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation
The release will be led by Forestry England and the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation. Ali Hawkins, senior ecologist with Exmoor National Park Authority, said the project was “committed to continuing to work with farmers and other stakeholders.”
White-tailed eagles were once widespread throughout Britain and Ireland but disappeared by 1918. The first successful reintroduction began in 1975 on the Isle of Rum in Scotland's Inner Hebrides, and birds released on the Isle of Wight seven years ago have already visited Exmoor and expanded their territories along the south coast.
Ricky Rennie’s livestock losses
The strongest objection in the facts comes from Scotland, where farmer Ricky Rennie said he had been dealing with the impact of white-tailed eagles since 2018. On Garvachy Farm near Minard, Argyll, he estimated that in the worst year, 2024, he lost two-thirds of his lambs to the eagles.
Rennie said farmers in Exmoor should “fight” the plans “tooth and nail,” and he estimated losses of up to £30,000 annually. His experience is the clearest warning in the record for livestock owners who will now live alongside the next phase of the reintroduction.
For Exmoor farmers, the immediate change is not a policy debate but a live release programme with tagged birds and a stated commitment to work with landowners. The practical question now is how the project manages sheep concerns once the first birds are released this summer.
