“We’re not expecting them to nest in the centre of Cardiff!” How sea eagles could return to Wales

Transport yourself to 1830. To a stretch of woods, dunes and wetlands at Kenfig on the coast of South Wales.

Above, plaintive shrieks draw your eye to a huge bird of prey, circling, clearly in distress. Below it, in a glade beside the water, its mate is dying, pierced by the steel jaws of a spring trap. Weeks later, the surviving bird is shot by a wildfowler, who is toasted in the pub afterwards for a job well done. This, or a story very similar, is how the last recorded white-tailed eagles in Wales perished. None have bred there since.

But now there’s a good chance these hunters, with a massive 2.3m wingspan, will return to the skies of Wales – and it’s down to the energy of one woman. Dr Sophie-lee Williams has devoted nine years to assessing the feasibility of reintroducing the eagles. Now, with funding and support from Durrell Wildlife, WWT and Gwent Wildlife Trust, she heads Eagle Reintroduction Wales (ERW) and is about to apply to Natural Resources Wales (NRW) for a licence to release white-tailed eagles, known in Welsh as eryr y môr (eagle of the sea). It would be a crucial piece in the eagle jigsaw of the British Isles following reintroductions in Scotland, Ireland and England.

White-tailed eagle — A white-tailed eagle hunting on Loch na Keal, Isle of Mull, Scotland / Credit: Getty

The beginnings of Eagle Reintroduction Wales

Sophie-lee grew up in the South Wales Valleys, the beautiful, sometimes bleak landscapes that bear the scars of mining and industry. As a child she roamed the moors above her home in Aberdare. “But there were only kestrels and occasional peregrines,” the white-tailed eagle project officer explains. “When I later worked with golden eagles and other raptors in Scotland, I realised how bad things were at home. In Wales, like the rest of the UK, persecution by humans was the sole reason for the eagles’ disappearance. There’s plenty of food, there’s plenty of habitat.”

For Sophie-lee and many others at the forefront of reintroductions, a large part of the motivation is to simply enjoy these long-lost wildlife spectacles. But there are cultural, ecological and even economic reasons for bringing the eagles back.

As a teenager, Sophie-lee found an outlet for her love of nature in an animal rehabilitation centre in Ebbw Vale, helping injured birds of prey. “I love working with raptors but I thought, I can do this in the wild.” She did a zoology degree, but it was while studying for her Masters that she met legendary conservationist Roy Dennis and received a grant to join his study of golden eagles in Scotland’s Monadhliath Mountains.

Roy and his Wildlife Foundation have been instrumental in returning ospreys to Britain as well as reintroducing white-tailed eagles in Scotland, Ireland and the Isle of Wight. He had always wanted to bring the birds back to Wales but understood he needed a native Welsh champion for the project to succeed. “Eagle Reintroduction Wales really developed over a cup of tea with Roy,” Sophie-lee says. That was in 2016.

Sophie-lee Williams sea eagles — “If I thought there was any danger, I wouldn’t be releasing eagles”, says Sophie-lee Williams / Credit: Steve Sayers

The ideal habitat for sea eagles

When I meet Sophie-lee at Kenfig Pool near Bridgend she enthuses about the habitat. “We’ve got large mature trees where the eagles can anchor themselves, and shallow waters where they hunt.” I mention that we’re close to Cardiff, Swansea and Bridgend but Sophie-lee isn’t worried: “White-tailed eagles breed in close proximity to urban areas. We’re not expecting them to nest in the centre of Cardiff! But places like this will do fine.”

If the habitat’s so good, however, why haven’t they found their way back naturally? As well as the populations across the British Isles, there are 12,000 to 15,000 pairs of the eagles across 22 European countries and they are spreading, albeit slowly. “It’s the biology of the species that prevents them from recolonising of their own accord,” Sophie-lee says. “They have something called natal philopatry, which is a snazzy scientific phrase to say they’re committed to their birthplaces. So they have slow-growing populations and don’t spread out much. We know that by establishing new breeding populations we can spark metapopulation mixing. For example, on the Isle of Wight when six birds were released in 2019, it sparked an international movement of youngsters. So we had a Swedish bird that we identified by its ring. And four individuals from elsewhere.” The white-tails, it seems, won’t settle and breed if there aren’t eagles in the landscape already.

What do sea eagles eat?

Alternatively known as sea eagles, white-tailed eagles are birds of lakes, estuaries and wetlands where they ambush fish and wildfowl. They’ll sit for hours on a vantage point, such as a tall, waterside tree, waiting for a victim. Unlike ospreys, which also dive to catch prey with their feet, white-tailed eagle feathers aren’t waterproof so they hunt in the shallows instead of diving deep. I’m curious as to what the birds will eat – especially when our waterways are so polluted. Of fish, they focus heavily on pike in freshwater and grey mullet in brackish estuaries. Both species are “extremely abundant” but the eagles will also take a wide range of waterbirds and “are very adaptable so they can take the most seasonally abundant prey,” says Sophie-lee. They also relish carrion and scavenge widely.

I’m surprised to hear the eagles will also take cormorants, goosanders and even herons. “They control the whole ecosystem,” says Sophie-lee. “They reduce competition and create space for rarer, protected species. So we feel that by restoring white-tails, they have a positive impact on endangered salmon and trout.”

This argument is persuasive to anglers who otherwise might have feared the impact on fish stocks. Mark Owen of the Angling Trust told me: “We believe in restoring ecological balance, a shared goal of both anglers and conservationists. The presence of white-tailed eagles could contribute to the overall protection of fish populations, as demonstrated by the positive impacts seen in other parts of Europe where they have been successfully reintroduced.”

Kenfig Nature Reserve sea eagles — Despite its proximity to cities and heavy industry, Kenfig Nature Reserve is a refuge for wildfowl all year round / Credit: Steve Sayers

Do sea eagles eat lambs?

A bigger bone of contention is the allegation that eagles kill lambs – as claimed in a Daily Telegraph headline in October 2024 talking of ‘Lamb-eating sea eagles…’ in response to a separate proposal to reintroduce the birds to Cumbria.

“There’s irrefutable evidence of lamb remains in white-tailed eagle nests,” says Sophie-lee. However, she believes these were dead lambs, scavenged by the eagles. “When we’ve looked at evidence right across Europe, white-tailed eagles are breeding in lambing areas with no impacts. It’s generally understood from communities living alongside them across these 22 countries that they are scavengers or fish eaters.” There is one exception, as Sophie-lee admits: “Scotland is the only area where this conflict is ever reported.”

To counter this, Sophie-lee points to the Isle of Wight reintroduction. Here, all released eagles have satellite tags fitted so conservationists can track their movements. It’s proving vital. “A couple of days into the programme, they had a phone call off a local farmer, who said he’d lost a few sheep overnight, and also his sheepdog. And he was blaming the eagles. So the project officer visited that farmer within 24 hours, and showed the satellite tag evidence, and there was no evidence of those birds ever ranging into those areas.” All the Welsh birds will be similarly fitted with tags and closely monitored.

Concerns over the reintroduction of sea eagles

National Farmers Union (NFU) Cymru, which speaks for many Welsh famers, is yet to be convinced by Sophie-lee’s case. Its Rural Affairs Board chairman, Hedd Pugh, told me: “There is a real concern that any reintroduction of this species would cause risk to animal health and welfare and have an impact on livestock production, with newborn lambs particularly at risk. There is also the unknown effect the white-tailed eagle could have on other birds, wildlife and protected species.

“Many farmers are participants in agri-environment schemes which are specifically designed to enhance wildlife on their farms,” he adds. “Having a top predator like a white-tailed eagle could seriously compromise agri-environment and indeed SSSI objectives. NFU Cymru would not support the reintroduction of the white-tailed eagle in Wales.”

The Farmers Union of Wales has been more receptive. It has concerns but is happy to work alongside Sophie-lee and the Welsh Government on what are called ‘conflict management plans’. The spirit of cooperation is more pronounced in Ireland. Allan Mee, project manager of the Irish white-tailed eagle reintroduction, told me: “Most farmers who are familiar with the birds now understand the valuable role they play in the environment, including ‘cleaning up’ carcasses that would otherwise attract foxes and crows. The success of the project, with 64 Irish-bred eaglets fledged from nests to date, has largely been down to their acceptance by the farming community.”

NRW is the government body charged with making the decision when it comes to granting the licence. It sees the case as having high public interest. In Scotland, eagle tourism is popular and an RSPB Scotland report has shown they generate up to £5 million for the economy of the Isle of Mull each year, and £2.4 million on the Isle of Skye. This could be translated to the Isle of Wight and South Wales, a positive for local economies.

Kenfig Pool sea eagles — Glamorgan’s largest natural lake, Kenfig Pool is home to pike, perch and tench / Credit: Steve Sayers

Public support of sea eagles

When Sophie-lee has talked to the wider Welsh community there’s strong support, with 91% of 3,000 people surveyed at agricultural shows supportive of the reintroduction. Though she says some fear for their pets, even their children. “I have a chihuahua,” she says. “If I thought there was any danger, I wouldn’t be releasing eagles!” There have never been reports of eagles attacking people. “So we’ve done population modelling on what we believe that our release programme would sustain in Wales,” says Sophie-lee. “By releasing between 50 and 60 birds over a five-year time frame, in 10 years’ time that will establish six to 10 breeding pairs. And that would be a necessary creative sustainable population.”

Sophie-lee has already identified a release site, but can’t tell me where. It’s simply too sensitive. But if the licence is granted, she promises to invite me to witness the moment the birds fly free. I will never see dragons in the skies above Wales, but white-tails with their mighty wingspans would be the next best thing.

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