Twenty Lynx, One Valley: The Missing Lynx Project Explained

Quick summary

• Up to 20 Eurasian lynx would be released near Kielder over five years

• A licence bid to Natural England is expected in late 2026, with release no earlier than 2027

• Modelling limits the range to Northumberland, edge of Cumbria and southern Scotland

• Roe deer impacts are unquantified; livestock mitigation and compensation plans are still being drafted

The Missing Lynx Project wants to release up to 20 Eurasian lynx near Kielder over five years, and intends to ask Natural England for a licence in late 2026. This is what the proposal sets out.

Twenty lynx, one valley

The project is led by The Lifescape Project, with Northumberland Wildlife Trust and the Wildlife Trusts alongside it. Its case rests on peer-reviewed modelling published in the Journal of Environmental Management in August 2025, which found that lynx released into north-west Northumberland could establish a self-sustaining population.

The modelled range takes in north-west Northumberland, the edge of Cumbria and the bordering parts of southern Scotland. No other part of England was assessed as suitable, and the project has ruled out wider English expansion. A separate initiative is examining northern Scotland.

So the geography is narrow. One habitat patch, on the Scottish border, chosen because its woodland and its deer can carry the animal.

Nothing imminent

The licence bid is not expected before the end of 2026, and the project itself has named 2027 or 2028 as the earliest a release could begin. Natural England sits between the proposal and any animal on the ground. The project also says it will apply only once it has a plan, built with local people, that is "acceptable, feasible and possible to implement."

Why the project says lynx should return

The lynx has been absent from Britain for at least 800 years, lost in the medieval period. The project argues that Britain is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, and that a top predator has been missing from it for centuries.

Bringing the lynx back, it says, would help regulate deer numbers, ease pressure on overbrowsed woodland, and support the country's nature-recovery targets.

The roe deer question

A lynx is a woodland ambush hunter about the size of a slim Labrador, and it lives on deer — roe deer above all. The project's own figure is roughly one deer per lynx each week. The project has not published figures for what twenty lynx would mean for local roe deer numbers, or for the deer management that currently depends on them.

What it means for hill flocks

On livestock, the project points to Europe, where it says recorded lynx predation on sheep is generally low, and that the number of incidents varies from country to country rather than with the number of lynx present.

Losses, it says, depend heavily on how and where stock is grazed. The project took a group of farmers to Germany and Switzerland to see coexistence at first hand, and says their feedback is being built into a plan covering mitigation and compensation for any livestock lost.

The support figures

The project reports strong local backing:

"Nearly 10,000 people came through a touring exhibition, about 1,700 questionnaires were returned — 1,075 of them from the project region — and 72 per cent of those responding supported reintroduction."

This is the project's own consultation survey rather than independent polling.

What happens next

We will keep tracking the Missing Lynx Project through consultation, the licence application and Natural England's decision, and will keep you informed at every stage.