We’re offering a £10,000 reward for information that leads to a conviction in these cases.
Three White-tailed Eagles that are part of a reinduction project in England led by Forestry England and the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation have gone missing. One of the birds, born in Sussex earlier this year, was one of the first White-tailed Eagles to fledge in England for hundreds of years.
Their disappearance is being investigated by several police forces and the National Wildlife Crime Unit.
White-tailed Eagles were once found across the UK but became extinct in the early 20th century due to human persecution. Thanks to a reintroduction project White-tailed Eagles returned to Scotland in 1975. There have been several more reintroductions in Scotland since then, and in 2019 White-tailed Eagles were released on the Isle of Wight to support the bird’s return to England.
All White-tailed Eagles released as part of the England reintroduction project are tagged with satellite trackers. These allow the team from the Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation to closely follow their location and movements.
In September, the trackers of two eagles were found dumped close to each of the bird’s last recorded locations, one in Sussex and one in Wales. Both had been cut off the birds using a sharp instrument. In the case of another eagle, its tag has stopped sending data. The last message received from the device was on 8 November from Scotland. No sightings of the bird have been recorded since.
“We monitor the satellite data, showing the bird’s minute-by-minute movements, on a daily basis and always investigate any suspicious or unusual data. It was devastating to find the stolen and dumped tags, particularly for the chick in Sussex who fledged this summer and had only just begun its life. So many people in the area had shared the joy of seeing these birds breed again after hundreds of years and our ongoing monitoring has shown how well they were fitting into the landscape. To have that destroyed just a few months later is deeply shocking.”
On 26 September, a satellite tag belonging to White-tailed Eagle G842 was recovered from the River Rother, near Petersfield. It had been removed from the bird using a sharp instrument. Searches in the area to try and locate the body of the bird have so far been unsuccessful.
Sussex police are appealing for information from anyone who was in or around Harting Down and Petersfield on the evening of 20 September 2025. Any members of the public who may have seen the bird or any suspicious behaviour can contact them on 101 or 0800 555 111 quoting incident number 769.
Dyfed Powys Police are investigating a similar incident on 13 September, where a satellite tag belonging to White-tailed Eagle G615 was recovered in remote moorland. The tag had been removed with a sharp instrument before being hidden in an attempt to dispose of it. Searches in the area to try and locate the body of the bird have so far been unsuccessful.
The force is interested in hearing from anyone who was at or around the Gwgia Reservoir, Tregynon between 11am and 1pm or on access land near Bryn y Fawnog between 12 noon and 3pm on 13 September. Callers should quote crime reference number 137.
In a third incident, concerns are growing for White-tailed Eagle G819 after its tag, which usually transmits the data daily, has stopped working. The last transmission was sent on 8 November in the Moorfoot Hills area. Police Scotland are treating the disappearance as suspicious and asking anyone with information to contact them on 101 or 0800 555 111 quoting incident number PS-20251215-1347.
We are deeply shocked and saddened by this news and are offering a reward for information that leads to a conviction in these cases.
“The RSPB is shocked with this news, so much so that we are offering an overall reward of £10,000 for information that leads to a conviction in these cases. Eagle tag-data is so precise that the point of death and any subsequent movement of the tag will be known to investigators, so we urge the public to come forward with information.
“Raptor persecution has no place in modern society, let alone threatening such an important UK Government-backed reintroduction scheme like this.”
Further to the suspicious disappearance of these three White-tailed Eagles, a fourth bird, fledged from a nest in Perthshire in 2024, disappeared on a grouse moor in Nairnshire in May this year. A police search took place but neither bird nor tag were found.
This was the latest of nine tagged birds of prey, including two other White-tailed Eagles, whose tags were functioning as expected, to suddenly disappear in the northern Monadhlaith area of Inverness-shire and Nairnshire since 2018. These disappearances have occurred in an area where multiple confirmed incidents of poisoning, shooting and illegal trap use have been recorded.
In this RSPB film discover the UK’s largest bird of prey and meet the dedicated conservationists dedicated to their recovery.
