Return • A film by the RSPB
Alice Boyd features in Return, a short film by the RSPB celebrating the comeback of the white-tailed eagle to the UK’s skies. Blending cinematic imagery, soundscapes, and storytelling, the film reflects on loss, hope and the changing relationship between people and nature.
The film was premiered at Patagonia Manchester in July 2025 as part of a special screening event, and is now available to watch online:
Alice’s involvement in Return builds on her wider collaboration with the RSPB. Alongside the film, she also composed the track Return of the White-Tailed Eagle, commissioned to mark this landmark conservation story.
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“By working with a brilliant musician like Alice and asking her to create an original song for the film, we gained a whole new perspective on nature and on the vital role that art must play in conservation.”
To film and song mark the 50th anniversary of the white-tailed eagle’s reintroduction to the UK. The white-tailed eagle - once driven to extinction in the UK due to persecution and habitat loss - has made a remarkable comeback over the last five decades, thanks to the long-term efforts of conservationists, volunteers and communities. During the creation of the track, Alice spent a day recording at RSPB Pulborough Brooks in hopes of capturing the eagle’s call. While the bird remained silent, the experience itself - hours spent listening, waiting and attuning to the landscape - became central to the piece’s atmosphere
The project continues Alice’s exploration of our changing soundscapes, following her Radio 4 documentary Shifting Soundscapes, which retraced audio recordings made by naturalist Martyn Stewart 50 years ago. While that work often revealed loss - quieter dawn choruses, increased noise pollution - the story of the white-tailed eagle offers something rarer: hope. A reminder that with care and collaboration, lost voices can return.