White-Tailed Eagles

Cumbria's Coast

White-Tailed Eagles in Cumbria

What is the Cumbrian White-Tailed Eagle Project?

The Cumbrian White-Tailed Eagle Project is led by The Lifescape Project charity and supported by a steering group including the University of Cumbria, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, RSPB, the Wildland Research Institute, Lake District National Park Authority, the National Trust, and local estate owners and managers.

The steering group would support a reintroduction if the conditions are right – if there is an area in Cumbria where white-tailed eagles can live, if it’s practically possible, and if local people are accepting of the bird back in the landscape.

White-tailed eagles (Haliaeetus albicilla, also known as ‘sea eagles’) went extinct in Britain in 1918. Reintroductions started in the 1970s and have since reinstated subpopulations in Ireland, Isle of Wight and Scotland. A reintroduced population in Cumbria would act as a stepping stone population within a wider British Isles network and could result in ecological, economic and social benefits locally.

Could white-tailed eagles live in Cumbria?

The possibility of white-tailed eagles returning to Cumbria was first investigated in 2022 with a pre-feasibility study led by the University of Cumbria.

Our ecological research has shown that Cumbria and the surrounding areas (the ‘project region’) has suitable habitat for white-tailed eagles as well as plenty of food, and that reintroduced birds would be able to grow into a healthy population. Wider ecological assessments and heritage impact assessments are ongoing.

What do local people think?

Over a 14-month period, the project shared the results of the ecological research with stakeholder groups and communities local to this area and listened to people’s opinions through a range of approaches, including via questionnaires and through participatory processes such as community workshops and focus groups.

Over 24,800 people were engaged and consulted in the social consultation process. 2,392 people completed the individual questionnaire, with 1,938 of these respondents living in the project region. Our results show that overall, there is a high level of support (78%) and positive attitudes towards a white-tailed eagle reintroduction amongst individuals within the project region.

For more detail, please read the CWTEP Social Consultation Report.

We are now collecting and collating organisational views from stakeholder organisations.

We are looking for representatives from stakeholder organisations to complete the questionnaire and we would like to invite you on behalf of your organisation to take part.

The stakeholder questionnaire can be found here.

(Closes Monday 30th March 2026).

You can also learn more about white-tailed eagles and some of the research the Cumbrian White-Tailed Eagle Project has undertaken in the documents below:

And access recording of our webinars: