White-tailed Eagle - Near-extinction and Recovery in Europe

Near-extinction and Recovery in Europe

White-tailed Eagles are apex predators. Therefore, they tend to experience bioaccumulation from environmental pollutants that are present in their prey, and also suffered intensive persecution by shepherds and gamekeepers who considered them (usually wrongly) to be a threat to their livestock and gamebirds. During the period 1800-1970, White-tailed Eagles in most of Europe underwent dramatic declines, and became extinct in many regions of western, central, and southern Europe. While Norway, Germany, Poland, and Iceland harboured the largest surviving populations, pockets of reproducing pairs remained in several other countries. Intense conservation actions throughout much of the remaining European distribution range (legal protection to decrease hunting, protection of breeding sites, and winter feeding) led to a recovery of many local populations. Since the 1980s, the European White-tailed Eagle population has recovered steadily, and is spreading back westward. It has today recolonised several traditional breeding areas in Europe and the recovery is still on-going, assisted in Ireland and the United Kingdom by reintroduction schemes.

Some threats still remain, notably illegal persecution by gamebird shooting interests and egg thieves in Scotland, and a new threat from wind turbines is emerging with significant mortality (considerably in excess of the area's population productivity) occurring at the Smøla Windfarm in Norway.

It was successfully reintroduced to the Isle of Rum, in the Small Isles archipelago in Scotland, in 1975 and now breeds throughout the Western Isles and the mainland coast of Wester Ross. One of its Gaelic names is 'iolaire sùil na grèine' or 'eagle of the sunlit eye.' In August 2008 fifteen chicks raised in Norway were released at a secret location in Fife, in expectation of reintroducing the species in the east coast of Scotland as well. The White-tailed Eagle is still a rare breeder in Britain following its extinction and reintroduction, with 36 pairs in 2006 and 40 in 2008.

On 22 May 2006 it was announced that a pair of White-tailed Eagles was breeding in the Oostvaardersplassen nature reserve in the Netherlands. They arrived on their own, not as a reintroduction. This is the first time the bird has bred in the Netherlands in modern times. In 2007, 2008 and 2009 the eagles returned to their nest. In 2010, it turned out that the White-tailed eagle was also breeding in the Zwarte Meer nature district and in the Lauwersmeer area.

The White-tailed Eagle is being reintroduced to Ireland where its Irish name of Iolar Mara (sea eagle) reflects its historic association with the long coast of the island. The program started in the summer of 2007. Fifteen to twenty young eagles from Norway are being released each spring into the Killarney National Park in the south-west of Ireland. This comprehensive project will last a number of years with many more eagles being released. The species has a rich history on the island but became extinct in Ireland in the 1900s due to persecution from landowners. The last pair bred on the coast of Maigh Eo in 1912.

In 2007, one hundred local sheep farmers gathered at Kerry airport to protest about the eagles arrival. Irish Farming Association Hill Committee chairman Mr O'Leary said he had no doubt the eagles would take lambs.

Since their reintroduction seven eagles have been confirmed poisoned in County Kerry, two are suspected of having been poisoned and one was shot. A 13th eagle released in Kerry was shot in Northern Ireland.

Twenty more eagles were due for release in 2010. However, Dr Allan Mee, in charge of the sea eagle project, stated "the continuing loss of eagles to poisoning had cast a shadow over the future of the ambitious programme." The first white-tailed sea eagle breeding pair since 1912 nested 100 years later on Lough Derg (Loch Deirgeirt) marking a great success for the Irish reintroduction programme.

Studies of microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA in White-tailed Eagles from North-central Europe have shown that the recovering European population has retained appreciable amounts of genetic diversity, implying low risk of inbreeding depression (a serious concern in species with low population density). Therefore, the recovery of this formerly endangered species is a true success story for nature conservation. The story also shows how local protection of a species can be successful, and important for preserving the species' evolutionary potential.