Two white-tailed sea eagle chicks have hatched in a successful pairing of two adults under Ireland’s re-introduction programme.

A male white-tailed sea eagle released in 2008 which had lived alone in east Clare for the past four years, has bonded with a female released in 2020.

Three chicks traced to the male's previous partner have also been observed.

Eamonn Meskell, who heads up the re-introduction programme for the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS), said that “a story like this really brings our reintroduction programme to life”.

“It helps people to learn about eagle breeding behaviour and the fragility of our reintroduction efforts, all told through the story of a widowed eagle”.

“For our project, the appearance of any new chick is a milestone and shows that the continuation of the project is proving successful,” he said.

Three chicks reared by one of the male eagle’s offspring from his previous partner have also been observed and tagged in Clare.

“ This earlier offspring, a female eagle, has thus far reared ten chicks which are spread around the island of Ireland, some of whom themselves are forming pairs,” he said.

Meskell described as “incredible” the fact that one of his offspring is now herself rearing three chicks.

“This is a very rare occurrence, as a very small minority of nest sites - in Ireland, Norway or anywhere else - have more than two chicks on the nest,” he said.

“ This is the second year that three chicks are on the nest at this particular nest site. This shows how suited Ireland and our lakes are from a habitat and feeding perspective for this reintroduction project,” he said.

Avian flu, illegal poisoning and climate change are the main challenges involved in securing the programme’s success, the NPWS says.

The male eagle who has found a new partner was originally released in Killarney National Park in 2008 and set up territory with a female from that batch, eventually making a nest in the Lough Derg area.

In 2013, this pair nested successfully and fledged a pair of white-tailed eagle chicks – the first hatching and fledging of a chick of this species in over 110 years in Ireland.

The same pair successfully fledged white-tailed eagle chicks for the next four years until 2018, when the female of the pair died after contracting avian flu, the NPWS says.

The male held the same territory without any mate for the next four years.

Three years ago, the NPWS began a second phase white-tailed eagle reintroduction project to boost the existing eagle population in Ireland, collecting 16 chicks from wild nests in Norway.

The original reintroduction programme (2007-2011) involved releasing 100 young white-tailed eagles in Killarney National Park, County Kerry.

The released eagles subsequently dispersed widely throughout Ireland, with the first successful breeding occurring in 2012 in Lough Derg, County Clare.

By July 2020, a small breeding population of eight to ten pairs had successfully fledged 31 chicks across counties Cork, Kerry, Clare, Galway and Tipperary.

A white-tailed sea eagle which was brought to Ireland as a chick from Norway was poisoned, the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has confirmed.

The bird had been a healthy juvenile male but was found dead on lands between Cavan’s Lough Ramar and Westmeath’s Lough Sheelin in November of last year.

Tests conducted at a State laboratory have identified that it died from an illegal pest control substance known as Carbofuran, the NPWS says.

The NPWS is now appealing for information on the death of the bird, and says it is urging people to be aware that the use of poisonous substances for the control of species such as foxes and crows is illegal, and has been since 2010.

The tests at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine Dublin regional laboratory in Backweston immediately ruled out Avian flu, illegal shooting or trauma, it says.

“Subsequent toxicology tests conducted by the State laboratory, have confirmed it had been poisoned with an illegal substance, known as Carbofuran. It is not known how the eagle ingested this substance, but possibly from eating carrion (a dead animal) laced with it,”it says.

The White-tailed sea eagle was just over a year old and had been brought in as a chick in 2021 from Norway under phase two of a national re-introduction programme.

It had been fitted with a small satellite tag prior to its release on Lough Derg in 2021, and the bird had been largely spending time around Lough Sheelin (Co. Westmeath) and neighbouring counties and seemed to have settled into its new surroundings, the NPWS says

A further two White-tailed eagles have been observed in the general Westmeath area - a 2020 female released on Lough Derg (who has been largely staying on Westmeath lakes for nearly 18 months now) and a 2021 male released in Killarney National Park, it says.

“These two birds have been in Westmeath since April of last year. Reaching maturity at around five years old, these young eagles will hopefully survive to strengthen the small Irish breeding population that has become established since the reintroduction programme began in 2007,”it says.

The NPWS says it was delighted that three of these birds had chosen Westmeath as their new home, and their movements were being monitored, until the tag from the juvenile male White-tailed eagle indicated it was in the one spot in Cavan for a troubling length of time.

Carbofuran is a plant protection chemical (i.e. an insecticide) which is extremely toxic, particularly to birds.

“Studies in the United States in the 1990s showed a single granule alone, resembling a natural seed grain in size and shape, could kill a bird. Its approval for use in crop production was withdrawn over a decade ago in Ireland, and possession of carbofuran is illegal. Despite this, carbofuran and other poisons continue to be used to target wildlife in the wider countryside,”the NPWS says.

NPWS Regional Manager Maurice Eakin said that white-tailed sea eagles are a protected species under the Wildlife Acts, and this latest fatality once again highlights “how prevalent this illegal practice continues to be”.

“In this instance, it is particularly disturbing that the reckless laying of poison has resulted in the death of a White-tailed eagle, one of our largest and most majestic bird species, which had been persecuted to extinction by the early 1900s,” he said.

“The potential for positive economic benefits from the re-introduction of the eagles has been demonstrated in Mountshannon, Co. Clare, when the first breeding pair in Ireland in over a century nested within sight of the village in 2012, attracting thousands of visitors over the following years,”the NPWS says.

Established in 2011, the RAPTOR protocol (Recording and Addressing Persecution and Threats to Our Raptors) involving the NPWS, the regional veterinary laboratories and the State laboratory, has quantified and highlighted the impact of illegal poisoning in Irish birds of prey.

Mr Eakin said the NPWS is seeking any information from the public in the Westmeath/Cavan region, particularly anyone who may have seen any persons or vehicles acting suspiciously in recent weeks in the general area between Lough Sheelin and Lough Ramar, of Co. Cavan, which may assist them with their enquiries.

Anyone with information on the matter is asked to contact NPWS at 01-5393156, and it says information “will be treated confidentially”.

“Alternatively, information can be supplied to An Garda Síochana,” it says.

Further information on NPWS work protecting raptors here