East Scotland Sea Eagles (ESSE)

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• Project objectives
• Progress so far
• Work planned or underway
• Results
• Downloads
• Who to contact
• Partners
• Funding

A young white-tailed eagle takes to the skies in Fife.

The last British white-tailed eagle was shot in 1918. Two formal reintroductions, releasing a total of 140 birds, were carried out on Rum (1975 to 1985) and Wester Ross (1993-1998). These birds have gone on to establish a population of over 50 breeding pairs on the west coast of Scotland.

White-tailed eagles last bred in East Scotland approximately 200 years ago. This third phase of the reintroduction will establish a breeding population in East Scotland.

Project objectives

• We are aiming to establish a self-sustaining population of white-tailed eagles in East and Central Scotland. Returning the species to the lowland wetlands, loch and Firths as well as coastlines of the region
• To work towards establishing a Scotland-wide population
• To give the people of Tayside, Fife and lowland Scotland the opportunity to see these magnificent birds of prey restored to their former haunts.

Key dates so far

• June 2007: reintroduction project begins, with 15 eaglets collected from nests in Norway and flown into RAF Kinloss
• August 2007: 15 young eagles released
• January 2009: eagles were incorporated into the Bird Friendly Schools programme in Tayside and Fife. Each year 70 schools receive an eagle visit from a field teacher or volunteer
• February 2010: launch of education project in Perth & Kinross using 'Glow', a national, online resource bank for school pupils and teachers. The 'sea eagles: a new beginning' microsite is based upon the 'Storyline' approach.

Work planned or underway

White-tailed eagles will be released for another two years, bring the total to as close to 100 as possible. We will continue monitoring of the released birds through radio-tracking and public sightings.

Results

At time of writing a total of 63 white-tailed eagles have been released, all of which are fitted with VHF tags allowing us to follow their movements and survival as the project progresses.

Downloads

Who to contact

Claire Smith
East Scotland Sea Eagle Officer
E-mail: claire.b.smith@rspb.org.uk

Partners

The reintroduction project is a partnership between RSPB Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage and Forestry Commission Scotland. The latter host the release site. The project is part funded by the Species Action Framework.

Funding

Ardmore Whisky and Scottish Power also support the project.