A golden eagle has been spotted in northern England for the first time since 2015, indicating the birds may soon be expanding their range south from Scotland into England, where they’re currently considered locally extinct.
Conservationists and scientists working in a remote area of rural Northumberland, an English county that borders Scotland, reported seeing the golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) multiple times since April 2025. The exact location has not been publicly disclosed to avoid disrupting eagles and other wildlife.
“I saw to my right, about 30 meters [100 feet] away, the golden eagle sitting on the end of the crag,” Ian Glendinning, a conservationist working with red squirrels in the region, told Mongabay by email. “I immediately stopped, and it just spread its wings and lifted off into the wind and soared off behind the rocks. There was no doubt at all that it was a Golden Eagle.”
The bird has been identified as an eagle named Talla by the charity Restoring Upland Nature (RUN), which works on recovering eagle populations in the U.K. RUN has translocated more than 28 eagles from northern to southern Scotland in hopes of expanding their population and range.
Catherine Barlow, RUN’s chief executive, told Mongabay that along with Talla, another seven birds have been tracked using satellite tags venturing into northern England. But she added it’s too early to say if the eagles will settle in England permanently.
“Young eagles explore far and wide in the first few years of life, looking for new territory, a mate or for new feeding grounds,” Barlow told Mongabay by email. “It is too early to say [Talla] will settle in the area … but hopefully in the future.”
The most recent survey of golden eagles in the U.K. found a 15% population increase in just over a decade, from 442 pairs in 2003 to 508 in 2015. In England and Wales, the eagle was completely wiped out in the 19th century due to targeted killings by farmers and pesticide poisoning. One nest in the Cumbria district of northwest England survived as an exception in the late 1960s, but eventually died out in 2015.
Golden eagles maintain a range of up to 150 square kilometers (58 square miles), where they can set up a nest for many years, with several generations sometimes using the same nest for a home. They can dive at speeds of up to 320 kilometers per hour (200 miles per hour) to catch prey that includes foxes, buzzards and crows.
“It is exciting to see young eagles exploring northern England, where this vitally important species has been missing for generations,” Barlow added. “Returning this apex-predator to the skies of the northern England is important in reinstating and maintaining healthy ecosystems.”
Banner image: Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) in flight. Image by Alexas Fotos via Pexels.
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