In 2016, the last Golden Eagle in England passed away. It was in reading Lee Schofield’s book ‘Wild Fell’ that I was first introduced to the plight of this incredible species, as well as the importance of rewilded landscapes to their survival. The male bird was around 20 years of age when he disappeared but, for much of his life, he had been alone. For over a decade, he would dive and soar in an incredible aerial display to attract a female partner, but there were no more Golden Eagles left in England to see his skilled performance and join him in the dance. 

In a landscape where place names such as ‘Eagle Crag’ and pub names such as the ‘Eagle and Child’ demonstrate a long history of the presence of eagles, the absence of this species is an indicator that we have lost something that should very much be a part of our experience.  The tragedy goes beyond one lonely bird lost in a dance with no partner, it is a loss to our ecosystems as a whole. Shifting baseline syndrome means that many people in the UK are immune to this sense of loss. Over generations we have forgotten how our seas, rivers, moorlands, and skies should be. One of the key tasks of the rewilding movement is to reawaken our imagination to our own wild history. In so doing, we are reminded not just of what the UK could be, but also of what it should be, and the part humans have played in depleting nature.

“You Ought Not to Be Rude to an Eagle”

It is believed that the last Golden Eagle in the Lakes died at a ripe old age and of natural causes but sadly this has not always been their fate. In the Victorian age, the species were wiped out in England and Wales due in part to habitat loss but also because of persecution by those who viewed them as a threat to livestock and game birds. Other Victorians who caused harm to the Golden Eagles were the enthusiastic oologists (egg collectors), taxidermists, milliners, and skin collectors. 

Thankfully, though eradicated in every other area in the UK, Golden Eagle populations were able to hold on in remote areas of the Highlands and islands of Scotland. The eagles that came to settle in Haweswater, after over a hundred years of absence, were therefore Scottish by birth. Their survival was supported by huge efforts from volunteer nature lovers and the RSPB who established a constant nest guarding programme.

The Misty Mountain Dweller

Described by Shakespeare as a ‘royal bird’ the Golden Eagle prefers to spend its time on high, in areas far away from the far less majestic human species. The North of Scotland was therefore a perfect place to find refuge away from high populations of people and the associated persecution. In mountainous habitats and open upland moors they continued to build their nests (or eyries) and soar the skies whilst hunting for prey. 

The Golden Eagle has a wing span of around 2 metres and, in the UK, only the white eagle is larger. Their nests are therefore also of gigantic proportions. They can be found in the most inaccessible of places on cliff ledges or on trees which grow on the summits of mountains like dwarf birch and downy willow, trees which have now been almost wiped out in many parts of Scotland due to overgrazing. Pairing for life, male and female eagles will work together to build their homes (they can have two or three within their vast territory). They add to the nest each year and often pass them on to the next generation to use. One nest was even found to be 45 years old and was 4.6 metres thick. 

However, even in such remote places the Golden Eagles were not completely safe from human activity. Organochlorine pesticides, brought in in the middle of the 20^th century, entered the food chain. The Scottish Golden Eagle population began to see a steep decline as these chemicals led to infertility and eggshell thinning. Without increased conservation efforts for this iconic bird, their numbers could have become unsustainable in the UK and they may have been lost to us forever. As the effects of these pesticides became clear, people began to take action, voluntarily stopping using them before they were eventually banned completely in 1982. New legal protections for Golden Eagles were also introduced, helping the populations to not only recover, but to offer hope for the Eagles to make a comeback in other parts of Scotland.

Return of the King

Whilst the population in the north of Scotland rose to over 500, in the south of the country, the numbers remained very low. In fact, with just 3 pairs in the area and with little movement of birds across the central belt, there was a chance that the population could become locally extinct. The Southern Uplands Partnership therefore set about addressing this situation through a translocation project of juvenile birds from the north, after their feasibility study found that the area could hold between 11 to 16 pairs of birds.

They learned from the accomplishments of an Irish Golden Eagle project, selecting just one bird from a nest of two healthy siblings, and taking birds that were old enough to survive without intervention, so they didn’t imprint on humans. 

Given that one of the main threats to Golden Eagles in Scotland had come to be illegal persecution (The RSPB reports 19 satellite-tagged Golden Eagles suspiciously disappeared in Scotland between 2015-2024), a further aspect of the South of Scotland project was that it aimed to engage with all interested parties – from tourism and nature conservation to farming and game management. This even led Andrew Gilruth, chief executive of the Moorland Association, to describe it as “an exemplar on how to do it. It was absolutely brilliant.”

With the highest number of Golden Eagles in the region for over 300 years, the award winning project has been an incredible success story for Scottish wildlife. However the story does not end north of the border. The satellite tags on the Scottish eagles showed them beginning to explore the North of England, indicating that there are still places in the region wild and remote enough to once again support them.

Forestry England therefore conducted a feasibility study and identified 8 potential sites for reintroduction. Partnering with Restoring Upland Nature they have begun to take the first steps in the recovery of Golden Eagle populations in England. Speaking about the study, Forestry England Chief Executive Mike Seddon stated: “It is our ambition that the nation’s forests will become the most valuable places for wildlife to thrive and expand in England. And we know from our successful reintroduction projects that returning lost species is vital for nature recovery across landscapes.”

In April this year, the project also received government backing with the Environment Secretary, Emma Reynolds, approving £1million of government funding to “work alongside partners and communities to make the Golden Eagle a feature of the English landscapes once again.”

Meanwhile, raptor lovers in Wales will be watching with interest. The 12 year-long survival of an escaped Golden Eagle in the Cambrian Mountains indicates that the Welsh moors and mountains could provide a suitable range for the bird. It would nonetheless be important to ensure that any population would not become so isolated that they meet the same fate as the Lake District bird: dancing a hopeless and lonely dance.  As Golden Eagle ranges move south from Scotland, the chance of this decreases. However, any reintroduction in England or Wales will also need to work alongside more general landscape recovery to ensure that the habitats can sustain growing populations. Without this, any Golden Eagle reintroduction project will flatline.

The Eagles are Coming!

Fans of Tolkien may have noticed the references to his writing in the subheadings of this blog. The eagles certainly have a key role to play in his works: lifting Bilbo and company to safety in The Hobbit; rescuing Gandalf from imprisonment in The Two Towers; and saving Frodo and Sam at the end of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. But the idea of the eagle as a force for good is not novel to Tolkien. He may have been inspired by the name of the pub where the Inklings met ‘The Eagle and Child’ which alluded to the legend of an Eagle bringing to Sir Thomas Lathom a heavenly gift of a perfect son. The Norse god Odin was also able to escape from harm in the form of an eagle and the Bible abounds with references to the Eagle as a symbol of spiritual strength and divine protection. Exodus 19:4, for example, has God reminding the Israelites how “I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself”

So what part might the Golden Eagle play in our nation’s own salvation?

Although there is currently some fear and distrust of apex predators, these species are essential to returning our ecosystems to a dynamic state. Without their presence, meso-predators, such as foxes, badgers, crows and buzzards can become dominant, limiting the populations of prey species, including smaller bird species. These meso-predators will avoid areas populated by Golden Eagles helping to restore more balance to the ecosystem. Meanwhile, where the population of medium sized prey species has become too large, Golden Eagles will regulate this population through predation, reducing the associated issues of overgrazing and disease.

A study from the Mediterranean mountains, also found that 90% of Golden Eagles were happy to consume carcasses. The implication is that the presence of Golden Eagles will not just help to clean up an overpopulation of rabbits, but also clean up the remains of any rotting meat. 

But it is perhaps the moral case that is the most powerful. The fault for the disappearance of Golden Eagles from our skies can be unequivocally laid at our door. It is up to us to protect these beautiful birds and restore them and the landscapes in which they once thrived.