a day ago
Three white-tailed eagles fledge in Dorset and Sussex
Three white-tailed eagled have fledged from two wild nests in England, making it a record year for the species.A pair nesting in Dorset have raised the first chick born in the county for more than 240 years, while another pair in Sussex have reared two eagles - Britain's largest bird of prey - were hunted to extinction in the south of England in the 18th Century.A total of six have now fledged since the start of a reintroduction programme in 2019, using birds transported from Scotland and released under licence on the Isle of Wight.
A single male chick - G834 - fledged from parents G463 and G466, which were released in 2020 and paired up in Dorset in England said it was their first successful breeding attempt and "made more remarkable by the fact that the male adult bird has only one leg" after losing the other four years female chicks - G841 and G842 - were the offspring of G405 and G471 in Sussex - also released in 2020. The same pair bred in 2023 and of the chicks are fitted with satellite tags so the project team can track their progress.
To date, 45 young white-tailed eagles have been released by Forestry England and the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation, including eight this Dennis OBE said: "It will take some years before the population is fully restored but the progress made over the last year has been incredibly encouraging."Forestry England project officer Steve Egerton-Read said: "We have been patiently monitoring these nests for many months and hoping they would be successful. "It is always such an exciting time but also incredibly nerve wracking."This was especially the case for the pair of eagles in Dorset who were first time parents."
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