Irish reintroductions (1 Viewer)

I'm sure I've read about this discussion before but I can't think whether I read about it on this forum or elsewhere........I was just thinking about the Golden Eagle reintroduction project in County Donegal which I've heard has been a success. What other species that were once native to Ireland could successfully be reintroduced there ? I wonder whether Tawny Owls, Nuthatches or Woodpeckers were once present in Ireland ?
I'm thinking specifically about the Osprey however. There are numerous lakes across the whole of Ireland, and many will be well stocked with fish as Ireland is renowned for its fishing. So surely Ospreys could be successfully introduced over there ? I know there aren't that many trees in Ireland for Ospreys to nest but I doubt very much that that would be a problem as I hardly think that they will need extensive woods to nest.
Also would there be sufficient habitat for White-tailed eagles in Ireland ? After all Ireland is well endowed with sea cliffs and offshore islands. I'd love to hear your opinions.....

Hi Guffers,
Tawny Owl has never been recorded in Ireland,and isn't thought to have become extinct in the past:much more likely that such a sedentary bird never reached here before the land-bridge to Britain was inundated.Ditto for Nuthatch.
Remains of Great Spotted Woodpeckers have been found in a number of areas,indicating their former presence here(now a rare and irregular vagrant,mostly in winter),and Ospreys were found here also.
While there may be some sense in reintroducing woodpeckers,Ospreys occur regularly on passage,and surely the best bet would be to provide artificial nest platforms in suitable areas.There WAS a half-hearted reintroduction program for White-tailed Eagles here,but basically this amounted to an adult pair being released on an island in Co.Kerry(incidentally,former Taoiseach Charles Haughey has a home on said islandublicity stunt...?).The male died and the female left the area.Some birds were brought to Fota wildlife park here in Cork for captive breeding,but to date they haven't produced any young!
Also,it's a little premature to speak of the Golden Eagle scheme being a success:they haven't actually BRED yet(and are unlikely to for a few years yet)!The survival rate of the released birds has been exceptional,however.
Harry H

Okay, I know this thread was created 4 years ago but a lot has changed since then. The re-introduced Golden Eagles have bred for the first time this year and produced a chick. White-tailed eagles are being re-introduced to Kerry and Red kites have been re-introduced in the wicklow mountains(sadly one bird was found dead with six shot gun pellets inside it, not a great start). All of these programmes are great and it's great that Ireland's extinct birds of prey are returning. Although, the barn owl, corncrake and hen harrier is in such steep decline in Ireland that I think maybe instead of introducing these birds, we could use the money protect what we already have and then think about re-introducing other birds.

There is positive work being done by RSPB to promote habitat for Corncrake and Choughs on the Antrim Coast and Rathlin Island. If more funding was availabe to increase these efforts we would be very likely to see the change. The Volunteer Farmer Alliance run by RSPB is not going to happen next season due to funding cutbacks. This programme was very useful and its a great shame it is not carrying on next breeding season.

Kerry re introductions

Report from "The Kerryman " newspaper dated wed nov 21st 07 White tailed eagle aged 5 and half months found dead .It appeared in good condition and had no fracture or superficial injuries .Cause of death unknown . It appears from the report that the dead bird was remarkable in that "she" tended not to feed by the lake when the food was provided to the birds there amd she was also slow to mix with the others.She hadnt moved very far and died close to her release site
this reduces the number of birds alive to 14, Eight males and six females
Hope this of interest

Looks at www.goldeneagle.ie for infrequent updates on the reintroduction programmes.

some more news in the local rag, Kerrys Eye , not read it myself but i am told that 2 more of the white tail eagles have been poisoned . whilst this is probably not deliberate it is still not good .Birds found in the Glencar area of Kerry