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‘A symbol of diversity’
Lithuania champions ‘Nature’s rarest species’ on new Euro notes.
17 August 2025
Today (29 August) marks the release of ‘Return’, a transportive new film which brings to life the RSPB and partners’ successful 50-year endeavour to bring the white-tailed eagle back to our shores.
The film blends spellbinding present-day footage of the birds thriving in their Scottish heartlands with archival gems, and features leading voices – including RSPB ambassadors Dave Sexton (who has been integral to the reintroduction project) and Nadeem Perera (co-founder of bird-watching collective Flock Together) – alongside musician and sound artist Alice Boyd.
Following a preview screening earlier this week in association with Patagonia, Return is now available to stream here.
The UK’s largest bird of prey (affectionately nicknamed ‘the flying barn door’), the white-tailed eagle was driven to extinction in the early 20th century due to persecution and loss of habitat.
Thanks to decades of dedicated conservation work by the RSPB and its partners, an epic reintroduction project – which began with the arrival of eagle chicks from Norway on to the Isle of Rum in 1975 – has seen the species make a triumphant return across Scotland, Northern England and the South Coast.
Directed by Percy Dean and produced by RSPB managing multimedia editor Mark Fountain, Return was created over the course of a determined two-year shoot, which demanded single-minded commitment from its filming crew.
White-tailed eagles are a notoriously challenging species to document, with RSPB in-house wildlife camera operator Nick Rodd and freelancer Jim Manthorpe spending much of the filming duration huddled in hides in remote corners of Scotland, primed for the narrow windows of filming opportunity when good weather and the presence of the eagles coincided.
Return blends this new footage of the eagles soaring above their Scottish heartlands with precious archival film which has been painstakingly collected by the RSPB over the course of the last 50 years.
‘Return is a film in two parts. In the first half we celebrate some of the amazing people who have dedicated their lives to bringing the white-tailed eagle back to the UK. Then, in the second half, we look at how these magnificent birds are inspiring a new generation of nature lovers who will take this story into the future.
‘By weaving in themes of music, sport and culture, we wanted to make a film that appeals to as wide an audience as possible. Return isn’t just a nature story, it’s a lesson in resilience, hope and what passionate people can achieve when they set their minds to something.’
MARK FOUNTAIN
RSPB’s managing multimedia editor
As the presence of white-tailed eagles continues to grow far beyond just the Scottish landscape with which they are synonymous, the new film seeks to bring this resounding conservation success story to the widest possible audience.
Return’s filming locations range widely from the Isle of Mull and mainland Scotland, down to RSPB’s Pulborough Brooks reserve (with Alice Boyd in pursuit of a white-tailed
eagle field recording) and London’s Hackney Marshes, from where Nadeem Perera advocates passionately for the collective sense of stewardship needed in order to protect vital species such as the white-tailed eagle.
Return is rich with first-hand insights from RSPB ambassador and former RSPB Mull officer Dave Sexton, whose involvement has been critical to the success.
Speaking about the circumstances which drove the white-tailed eagle to extinction in the early 20th century, Dave says, ‘By 1916, that last, lonely bird up in Shetland was photographed, and that image still exists. I think what really gets me, and pulls at the heartstrings about that male, is that his mate had probably been killed 10 years earlier, and he was just up there almost waiting for her to reappear. And of course there were none left.’
Speaking about the determination of the re-introduction project and the legacy it leaves, Dave adds: ‘Quite often we want quick fixes, and a result, and then move onto the next thing. But to be able to sustain that involvement and keep going for what’s now over 50 years, there’s not many organisations that could do that. But the RSPB has stuck with it. It’s almost unthinkable because we associate them with this wild West Coast habitat, but it’s not impossible that you could start seeing these birds nesting on the outskirts of London.’
Return also features musician, sound artist and composer Alice Boyd. Alice has recently released a new single in collaboration with RSPB, ‘Return of the White-tailed Eagle’, written in tribute to the species.
Alice says: ‘The story of the white-tailed eagle really resonated with me. Over the past couple of years, my work has focused on how the soundscapes of our natural environments are changing. I’d just made a Radio 4 documentary where I revisited three locations recorded by audio naturalist Martyn Stewart 50 years ago, to see how they’d changed. After documenting the diminished dawn choruses and the heightened noise pollution, it felt uplifting to hear about positive change and how this bird of prey had returned to the UK.’
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