‘Ashamed’ Iolo leads outcry over ‘shot’ rare falcon

There was a huge local outcry last night after we revealed that a rare white-tailed eagle had disappeared under mysterious circumstances in our area.

Yesterday we confirmed that Dyfed-Powys Police was leading an investigation after the satellite-tagged bird, Britain’s biggest bird of prey, went missing near Tregynon and its tag, which had been cut off with a sharp item, had already been discovered.

As more information came to light last night, it was confirmed that our bird is one of three white-tailed eagles that have gone missing since September.

There are concerns that they may have been shot-to-order with the taxidermist trade one of the areas being investigated.

And Iolo joined the wave of anger by sharing more details:

“I’m ashamed to say that a young white-tailed eagle was shot near Llyn Gwgia (Tregynon) at 11.30am on September 13,” said the Springwatch star.

“The satellite tag was taken, on a quadbike, to a nearby hill and buried under a tussock before being retrieved on September 16. The tag has now been sent for DNA analysis. Whoever did this, you will be caught.

“This incident occurred within a stone’s throw of where three red kites were shot in April 2020 and brings shame on mid-Wales.”

It has since come to light that another white-tailed eagle, which had fledged from a nest in Sussex this summer, went missing with its tag also found at its last recorded location.

A third eagle stopped sending data last month in Southern Scotland.

These cases are being jointly investigated by the National Wildlife Crime Unit.

Dyfed-Powys Police can be contacted either online at: https://bit.ly/DPPContactOnline, by emailing 101@dyfed-powys.police.uk, or by calling 101,quoting police Ref. 25000766626.

Alternatively, contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously by calling 0800 555111, or visiting crimestoppers-uk.org.