England's last golden eagle feared dead

The eagle had lived alone since the death of his mate in 2004
Golden eagle: the bird was thought to be the last in England
Rex
Hannah Al-Othman15 April 2016

England's only resident golden eagle is feared to have died after he failed to appear this Spring.

Wildlife experts said they are "losing hope" that the bird is still alive, as he has not been seen by RSPB staff since November.

The eagle, which has been a resident at Riggindale near Haweswater, Cumbria, since 2001, would usually be seen at this time of year building a nest and displaying to try to attract a mate.

Lee Schofield, site manager at RSPB Haweswater, said: “When the eagle didn’t appear last month we thought there was a chance he might be hunting in a nearby valley but over the past few weeks we’ve been gradually losing hope.”

There are an estimated 440 annual breeding pairs of golden eagles in the UK, which mostly inhabit the wide-open moorlands and mountains of Scotland.

The eagle, who did not have a name, was thought to be the last in England, and had lived alone since the death of his mate in 2004.

It is thought the bird, who is believed to have been around 20 years old, may have died from natural causes.

Mr Schofield added: "By this time of year you would have expected to have seen him on display to attract a mate.

"As the last golden eagle in England, it's an element of wildness that has gone.

"There's no real way of knowing for sure. It's a single bird in a huge landscape and he was of an age we couldn't rule out death by natural causes."

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in