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White-tailed eagles return to Exmoor more than 200 years after disappearing

Six young white-tailed eagles have been released in Exmoor National Park, extending a successful restoration programme into south-west England.

By The TEA Editorial Desk · 28 August 2026

A white-tailed eagle in flight Image: Ainsley Bennett / Forestry EnglandOriginal source

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White-tailed eagles have returned to Exmoor National Park more than two centuries after the species disappeared from the area.

Six young birds have been released as part of the Forestry England and Roy Dennis Wildlife Foundation restoration programme. The project began on the Isle of Wight in 2019, where 45 eagles have since been released and breeding has resumed.

White-tailed eagles are Britain’s largest birds of prey, with wingspans reaching around 2.5 metres. Up to 20 young birds can now be released at Exmoor over three years to help expand the population into south-west England.

For a landscape to regain an animal absent since before the railway age is not a small ecological footnote. It is a piece of the food web flying back into view.