BBC Wildlife - UK (2020-04)

joboftrackingtheeaglesand,because
supplementaryfeedingis necessaryat
thisstage,dolingoutfishattworaised
platformsontheisland.
“Youngwhite-tailedeaglescan’tfishwell,
theyareinexperiencedhuntersgenerally,”
Steveexplains,“so,inleantimesmight
struggle.SinceChristmas,thethreeisland
birdshavebeenvisitingmoreoften.I put
outmackerel,pout,scad...butconger-eel
headsarea realfavourite.”
Localravens,crowsandbuzzardstuck
in,too– “nobadthing,”accordingtoSteve.
“Theeagleswillspotthesecarrion-eating
birdscongregatingandlearntoassociate
themwithfood.”Inturn,theresponseto
theeagleshasbeenfascinatingtowatch.
“We’reseeing[behaviour]thathasn’tbeen
seeninthiscountryforhundredsofyears.
Thecorvids,buzzardsandeagleshaven’t
forgottenhowtobehavearoundeachother.
It’sstillthere.”
Thisis goodnews,asa secondcrucial
Thetestforreintroductionsis whetherother

team

&ho

dng

pen:

Forestry

Eng

and;

survey

ng

&fly

ng:

Ans

ey

Bennett;

boat:

Ian

Day

Whyaresomanyeaglesbeing

reintroduced?

White-tailedeaglessuerhighmortality.

“If30–40percentofthebirdswerelease

reachbreedingage,wearedoingfairlywell,”

TimMackrillsays.

WhychoosetheIsleofWight?

ThelastEnglishwhite-tailedeaglesbredon

theisland,atCulverCli. Whenoccasional

eagleswandertotheUKfromthe

NetherlandsorFrance,theyalsooftenturn

uphereorinHampshire.Inaddition,there

isplentyofpotentialprey;around180,000

birdswinterintheSolentandsurrounding

estuarieseverywinter,ensuringplentyof

aviancarrion.

Wherehavethereleasedbirds

travelledtosofar?

InSeptember,G3-22madeanepiceight-

dayflighttoEssexandback,viacentral

London.A secondbird,G3-93,hasspent

anextendedperiodona privateestatein

Oxfordshire,minglingwithlocalredkites.

Suchexploratoryflightsaretypicalofyoung

birdsintheirfirsttwoyears.

Whenwilltheeaglesrstbreed?

White-tailedeaglestendtonestin

woodland,nofurtherthan2kmfromthe

coastorfreshwater.Thoughreintroduced

birdswanderatfirst,theyusuallyreturnto

breedwithin50kmofthereleasesite.There

areseveralquietwoodsontheIsleofWight

thatmightbeused.Furtherafield,locations

couldincludeBashfordLakesneartheNew

Forest,andPooleHarbourinDorset,which

haswoodedareasalongitssouthernedge.

Twooftherelocated

birdsareoftenseen

together– here,on

Hampshire’scoast.

April 2020 BBC Wildlife 45

WHITE-TAILED EAGLES

680km

Distance flown by eagle

G3-22 during his eight-

day stop-start flight to

Essex and back.

15 MINUTES

TimetakenforG3-22

tocrossfromtheIsleof

WighttoLymingtonon

29 August2019.

705M

Altitude of G3-22 as

he flew over Big Ben

on 31 August 2019.

London

Lymington

Salisbury

Basildon

Hastings

Brighton

ISLE OF WIGHT

1 SEP

5 SEP