The white-tailed eagle has landed — but will it thrive in Kerry?
That question is about half-answered at present, as plans to release white-tailed eagles in Killarney National Park next summer are proceeding — though not with unanimous agreement, it has to be said.
Two hundred years ago, eagles would have been a relatively common sight in Irish skies, especially in areas such as Donegal, Galway, Kerry and other parts of the west coast, as we know from the large number of placenames clearly linked to eagles.
But what in olden times had been a revered bird of prey came to be regarded as an enemy, particularly of farmers. Eventually, eagles disappeared completely from Ireland through varied means of persecution including poisoning, shooting, trapping and egg-collecting.
Things may have changed a great deal in the last 100 years and a more nature-friendly atmosphere has developed, but concerns still remain.
The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) in Kerry, for instance, is claiming that eagles could kill lambs and that their reintroduction could lead to more land being designated for conservation — claims that are denied by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).
Forty-two eagles have so far been released in Glenveagh National Park, Co Donegal, and there are plans to increase the number to 60. Experts reckon Ireland could sustain anything from 50 to 100 pairs of breeding eagles but that’s a long way into the future, if it ever happens.
Survival rates in Donegal have been higher than expected, as a result of local support, according to Lorcan O’Toole, golden eagle reintroduction programme manager.
“We have developed a good rapport with Donegal’s hill sheep farmers, but we have identified some policy areas that could be amended to benefit farmers and eagles alike,” he said.
“We are now entering a second phase of the project where we need to monitor breeding pairs and research their habitat and prey requirements. We also now need to begin the slow process of liaising with and promoting eagle-friendly policies among Donegal County Council’s planners and forestry and agricultural bodies.”
As we’ve already seen from the hen harrier controversy and ongoing rows about access to land, there’s loads of room for improvement in relations between farmers and wildlife organisations — something the eagle project is trying to progress.
Mr O’Toole sees the blending of community interests and wildlife as the key challenge to wildlife programmes.
“The eagle project may be atypical, but our local media profile has caught the public imagination in Donegal because of our tangible and proactive conservation goals and our community efforts,” he remarked in Heritage Outlook magazine. “The Donegal public’s sense of ownership of the project and their pride in sharing a landscape with eagles has led to the project’s success to date.”
He believed that a licensed process which allowed hooded crows and magpies to be poisoned could also lead to golden eagles being poisoned and probably created the biggest risk to eagles.
Ireland is believed to have the lowest range of breeding birds of prey of all countries in the European Union.
During the 18th, 19th and 20th centuriesy Ireland lost at least six breeding raptors — white-tailed eagle, osprey, golden eagle, red kite, marsh harrier and goshawk — arising from persecution and habitat loss.
Scottish golden eagle experts are agreed that the southwest of Scotland golden eagle populations are no longer sufficiently productive to give any realistic expectation of the
recolonisation of Ireland in the near future from a wild source.
The white-tailed eagles being released in Killarney are being brought from Denmark where the species is reported to thriving, with at least 350 pairs.
Danish experts have been looking at the habitat here for white-tailed eagles and have described it as being very suitable. While the birds are to be released in Killarney National Park, the hope is that they will literally take off and find natural habitat in the bays, cliffs and peninsulas of the southwest.
Up to 75 eaglets will be released over a five-year period and the hope is that, in time, they will breed — a difficult and delicate process not always guaranteed of success.
Since the eagle project in Donegal was first mooted in 1989, an enormous amount of planning and other environmental improvements have taken place. The project was chosen and part-funded by the Government as part of millennium celebrations.
The proposal was also given a rigorous assessment by Scottish Natural Heritage, which was satisfied it met the 53 reintroduction guidelines laid down by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
Four experts — Prof Ian Newton, Dr Jeff Watson, Roy Dennis and Dr Duncan Halley — endorsed the project.
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