Reported White-tailed Eagle sighting on Arran, pending confirmation

July 27, 2026

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(Haliaeetus albicilla) — Britain's largest eagle, with a wingspan stretching to two and a half metres — was reported on the Isle of Arran on 26 July, though the iNaturalist record is currently graded needs_id and awaits a second identifier before it can be considered confirmed.

The sighting carries weight regardless: seven records have come in from the broader area over the past year, most centred on Islay and Kintyre, and Arran sits at the southern edge of the recovering population — long seen as a natural stepping stone for dispersing birds. A midsummer record here could be a wide-ranging adult or a young bird pushing the range further south. The species was hunted to extinction across Scotland by the early 1900s; its slow return is one of the more striking outcomes of the 1970s reintroduction programme.

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