White-Tailed Eagle chicks hatch in Ireland for first time 110 years

May 2013. White-tailed Eagles have successfully hatched chicks in Ireland for the first time in more than 110 years.

County Clare & Kerry

In the last week a pair was confirmed to have hatched chicks at a nest near Mountshannon, Co Clare. This pair also created history in 2012 when they nested for the first time. A second pair, in Killarney National Park, Co. Kerry, successfully hatched chicks in the past few days having laid eggs in late March.

These are the first chicks of the high profile reintroduction programme which began in 2007 with the release of young Norwegian eagles in Killarney National Park as part of the White-tailed Eagle reintroduction programme developed and funded by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht in partnership with Golden Eagle Trust.

Introduced from Norway

Nesting began in late March with pairs laying eggs in nests in Clare and Killarney. The Mountshannon breeding pair, a five year old male and four year old female, was collected on the island of Frøya off the west coast of Norway. This pair laid eggs in 2012 but failed to hatch chicks. However by January 2013 had already built a new nest. The Killarney breeding pair, a six year old female and five year old male, was collected on islands in Flatanger and Hitra, Norway, in 2007 and 2008. The Killarney female spent part of the winter in early 2009 in the Scottish Highlands before returning to Kerry. All birds were released in Killarney National Park, Co. Kerry, as part of the White-tailed Eagle reintroduction programme. Several pairs have now established themselves in counties Kerry, Cork, Clare and Galway at coastal and inland lake sites.

The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Jimmy Deenihan T.D. said "This is a momentous occasion in that we are now witnessing the first white-tailed eagles born in the wild in Ireland in over 100 years."

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