Last Thursday I attended an online webinar about the prospects of a reintroduction of White-tailed Eagles in Norfolk. It was very professionally done by Dominic Buscall from Wild Ken Hill (see here).
Everyone’s questions were answered pretty thoroughly and the whole idea seems to have been well thought through. For more details – click here.
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There’s a lot of groaning in Norfolk about flocks of cormorants descending upon rivers like the Wensum and their stillwaters depleting (temporarily) their fish stocks. If only there was a large aerial predator that would eat the occasional one and disperse the rest to make those grumpy fisherman with their real, imagined, exaggerated cormorant fears happy?
What is the evidence that White-tailed Eagles ever bred in Norfolk or even East Anglia? What I have read suggests they never done so. If correct then this would be an introduction (not re-introduction) which would be illegal under the Wildlife and Countryside Act. One for Wild Justice to pursue?!
More importantly North Norfolk has two internationally important colonies of Sandwich Terns – on Scolt Head and Blakeney Point. Some 5-6000 pairs could be easily spooked by a sea eagle when settling to nest and their huge creches of chicks a tasty morsel for a hungry baby eagle. I think the introduction of this top predator may not be the wisest thing in terms of our conservation priorities and responsibilities…..