Remony Estate in Perthshire has joined a very small group of Scottish sporting estates known to actively support breeding populations of raptors on their grounds. Following in the footsteps of estates such as Coignafearn and Glen Tanar, Remony, near Aberfeldy, has provided a safe haven for a species not often tolerated on a working grouse moor – the golden eagle.
This year a pair of golden eagles was allowed to breed successfully and without disturbance at Remony, resulting in the production of two healthy offspring. One of the youngsters has been collected under licence to join the on-going effort to re-introduce the golden eagle to Ireland.
For the full story, click here.
Congratulations to Remony Estate owner, James Duncan Miller, and his team of gamekeepers, for showing the rest of their industry that raptor conservation and grouse moor management need not be mutually exclusive activities. They deserve to be recognised and acknowledged for their efforts.
Remony Estate website here
Raptor Persecution UK 
Its heartening to hear that some progress is being made in some areas, lets hope its catching and spreads to the rest of the UK.
What fantastic news, its just such a devastating shame that we can only talk about a very small group of estates who feel and act this way!! Still let us hope that more join to swell this number. It all seems to revolve around money, maybe these estates should start to think of the revenue they could obtain from the many thousands of people who would pay to see these magnificent birds soaring in the scottish skies, rather than a minority who pay a lot of many to blast driven grouse out of those same skies!!!
Isn’t it refreshing to here of sensible people with such an enlightened approach.
Tyey are to be congratulated and I hope it’s contagious !!!
nirofo.
I’d like to sing the praises of several shooting estates on which I monitor raptors, one of which in most years has 2 successful breeding pairs of Golden Eagle, etc.
Let us know the names of these estates, Mike. We’ve gone to a lot of trouble to identify the ones where criminal activity has either been alleged or confirmed – maybe we can start a page that lists the estates that are actively supporting raptors. They deserve to be recognised.
It’s my opinion that the bottom line is that these estates I refer to aren’t looking for recognition.
They just keep their heads down and get on with the job of running a ”law abiding” highly bidiverse estate.
Surely we have to respect and recognise this approach?
They say that “one swallow does not make a summer” – but hey folks, this story has made my day. There are after all some sane, decent grouse moor landowners, and I couldn’t agree more with Richard Scrimshaw. If we could only get the ‘baddies’ to realise that there are literally hundreds of people out there who would gladly pay to see Golden Eagles, Hen Harriers and other birds of prey on their moors, they would realise that the financial losses of some Red Grouse being eaten would be more than compensated for. They would also gain a great deal of goodwill from the likes of us! I intend to write to James Duncan Miller to thank and congratulate him for restoring my faith that some clouds do have a silver lining – and who knows, may be one day that swallow might turn out to be the fore-runner of a flock! And come on Mike, if you really do know of some more ‘goodies’ let them get some praise – I’ve never met anyone yet who doesn’t like being praised rather than castgated. And Nirofo please note, that includes the incredibly dedicated duo who monitor Bowland! Don’t be fooled by the utterings of bitter men!
Tony,
Although this thread is not about Bowland it would be nice when you do bring it up if you would make your point clearer to those who may not know what you’re talking about. First of all who are the incredibly dedicated duo and what are their affiliations re Bowland, and secondly what are these utterings, from bitter men you talk about and why would we be fooled by them ?
nirofo.
Tony and Nirofo – don’t go there. We won’t publish comments about the politics of Bowland on this site.
Thank god for that !!!
nirofo.
Point taken, and “amen” to all that. My apologies for raising the issue in such a way.
Tony Warburton
Tony,
If you would like to also write to the estate I referred to with in most years 2 breeding pairs of Golden Eagle being successful then I’d be more than willing to supply the contact details.
Surely broadcasting this estates location to all unsundry would only increase public disturbance on an already highly sensative/visited area.
This estate also falls into the category discussed by DD with regards to the Irish GE Translocation Project and has contributed regulary since this projects conception.
I totally agree with DD’s comments regarding why are we taking Eagles away from these very low productivity areas and that in some cases people are being over praised for being law abiding over a single event.
In the long term couldn’t we try to bridge build and recognise highly biodiverse estates with a good track record over a minimum time span with say a conservation grant/award/recognition of achievement.
What do others think?
OK..If it has to be me thsts the only one saying it …so be it…..are we actually congratulating people for not breaking the Law?…Laws which took over 100 years to refine and finally get some enforcement over?…Laws which the vast majority of the public have wanted and expected to be obeyed for a very long time…
Are we so pathetically craven that we thank people who presumably have just stopped breaking the law [otherwise why the fuss over this apparent “change”?]
Also…as conservationists we tell people how massively important such birds are [this nest is in the centre of an eagle disaster area…I know, I monitored them round there for 25 years…1 or 2 chicks each year from a potentail nearly 20 pairs] and then when finally we get success we take a chick away from that tiny population – I could hardly believe what I was reading. By all means help the Irish project but take birds from the high populations of the Hebrides not the struggling CEntral Scotland population. The message given out here is that such birds are merely bargaining counters. Im appalled by this.
Interesting perspective, as usual Dave. But here’s another – In an industry that many would say is characterised by the illegal persecution of birds of prey, then NOT killing these eagles could be viewed as a revolutionary act, and in my opinion that deserves to be recognised. Of course in an ideal world all these estates would be law-abiding and there would be no great fuss – but you know as well as anyone that that’s not the case, and so here’s somebody who is willing to ignore peer pressure and do what he (and we) think is right by not killing them. I want to know about him, as I’m sure do the people who live in the area, the people who visit the area and the people who do business with him. So what is ‘pathetically craven’ about recognising his actions and informing the public about them? We can’t damn these estates for illegally killing our raptors and then ignore them when they stop, can we?
Re: the Irish golden eagle reintroduction project. According to official reports, the SNH licence issued to allow the collection of a limited number of golden eagle chicks from Scotland has several constraints: One of the geographical restrictions placed on the collection of young birds is that they cannot be collected from any Natural Heritage Zone (NHZ) which is in unfavourable conservation status for golden eagles. According to the 2008 Golden Eagle Conservation Framework, the NHZ in which Remony Estate lies is in unfavourable conservation status. If this is correct, then it looks like SNH has some questions to answer.
I would agree with the blogmeister on this. A common justification for killing raptors is that they cause the game-shooting to become unviable. The more estate owners who show that this is nothing more than a rural myth – and prove it by having viable grouse / pheasant / partridge shooting on their estates, as well as breeding raptors, the better. If there’s lots of publicity about the ‘good’ ones it will make it more and more difficult for the ‘bad’ estates to use this excuse as justification for killing birds of prey on their land.
Well said RPS and Paul, Dave, you ask “Are we actually congratulating people for not breaking the Law”? If these people are surrounded by people and estates who do, too damned right we are! It takes a very brave man to stick out against a lawless crowd, many of whom are their neighbours. They deserve all the credit we can give them, and as Paul says, every one who turns over a new leaf makes it all the harder for the misguided ones to continue their nefarious practises. Ever heard of the prodigal son? You don’t need me to remind you that the miscreants are very voiciferous in claiming that the problem lies with just a few untypical estate gamekeepers. Just read the new RSPB report ‘The illegal killing of birds of prey in Scotland 2010’ (p. 28.) and note the occupations of people convicted for the illegal killing of birds of prey in Scotland between 2003 – 2010. You’ve guessed it – 88% gamekeepers! So come on, all of us working in bird of prey conservation are quick to codemn the bad guys in words and in print. Let us be equally magnanimous when an owner or manager of a Grouse moor demonstrates that a healthy moor can harbour both Grouse and birds of prey – the emphasis being on the word ‘healthy’, i.e. well managed.
Dave, I am not being deliberately mischevious here, I’m just puzzled. You say you have been monitoring the eagles in the area of Remony Estate for 25 years in an ‘eagle disaster area’ where only 1- 2 chicks survive each year, then go on to complain that we are wishing to praise “people who presumably have just stopped breaking the law” (sic.). Does this imply that Remony Estate was once on the wrong side of the fence and is only a recent convert, or was Remony the Estate where the 1 – 2 chicks fledged successfully? If not the latter, then presumably there are other bird of prey-friendly estates on your patch? Is that the case?
Mike. Yes I would indeed like to congratulate your ‘good’ estate owner too. If you are still willing to pass me the contact details you can send these to me (in confidence) on tonyowl@btinternet.com
Your point re singing the praises of someone obeying the law is well taken.
I’m not too happy about the chick removal process myself, especially in an area where the success rate is so low to start with, it’s happened at certain eyries I’ve been involved with in the past, these were also in very low productive areas. I don’t know who authorises these removals but I suppose they are acting on information provided to them, in which case he/she should be taken to task for not doing their job properly. I think I’ll bring it up at the next Raptor meeting and see what the general feeling is about this.
nirofo.
“We can’t damn these estates for illegally killing our raptors and then ignore them when they stop, can we?…”
Yes we can…and we should…praising them for doing what all law abiding folks do every day just reinforces the “special case” arguments given by certain police officers, members of the justiciary and government officials which have lead to these crimes continuing.
Blogmeister…these are not new arguments…this is not a breakthrough…little difference here from the signatures attached to the letter condemning persecution – which you heavily castigated, quite rightly some time ago – which did not stop persecution on those very same estates….
We will know that eagles and harriers have a safe future when people dont think they need a pat on the back for simply not killing them.
As ive said many times before…the argument here, also , is not about whether they kill a lot of grouse, pheasants or partridges [most of which wouldnt exist in even a semi-natural countryside] …but about people obeying laws which were put in place to protect fragile birds, animals and ecosystems. ….if people suffer real economic distress because of wildlife they have redress through the political system….but most of what we describe here is simply attempts to illegally protect profits from what are unsustainable [in terms of wildlife] uses of the countryside.
After reading this a couple of times I’m still of the opinion is that this is a good news storey and that its right and fair to give praise to this estate and its owner, yes D.D. is quite correct in stating they are only abiding by the law but you only have to look at other threads on here to realise if these eagles had nested elsewhere we might never have known about them. It will be interesting to see if they get nominated for a Purdey conservation award, I somehow doubt it. Nice to see another Landowner though to whom Bag size and profit isn’t the most important aspect of the shoot.
Re the taking of juveniles, Its my understanding birds in area’s of low production are generally deemed to be in poorer territories and therefore even less likely to be able to raise two young, hence these area’s would be targeted first for removing the second youngster, if I’ve got my wires crossed on this one just ignore me :-)
Re the taking of eagle chicks out of certain areas…I believe it is now widely recognised that [outside of the persecution problem which exaggerates the effect] in any group of large raptors, you will have one or two pairs which are remarkably successful compared to their neighbours – this may be because they are particularly good at using their resources, are particularly good at protecting and raising their eggs and young to fledging or have better resources or a combination of these.
Whatever the situation these pairs and their production should be carefully safeguarded as their young will populate a wide area.
The site in question here may become that way…but it certainly was spectacularly unsuccessful over the last few decades….but I have no interest in bringing that up…I am delighted they have raised two young…Im just less than delighted to see this being mooted as a triumph for conservation [or the shooting industry].
What is obvious to me after studying eagles from Lewis to Galloway is that it is very very difficult to predict which pair will raise two young [with no persecution]…Ive ringed large twins in the very “food poor” Lewis peatlands where their neighbours only lay one egg and often are unsuccessful.
I am, I hope, after a very long time working in bird conservation in the field, a realist – which is why I have no time for short term fixes.
Also , adding fuel to the flames no doubt , I would suggest conservationists be very careful about saying that raptors breeding on shooting estates dont have a large effect on grouse/partridge/pheasants. They may well do in some areas. What I have always argued is that that is irrelevant to the fact that society has given, through our democratically system, laws which protect those raptors. This is not a free for all…to be argued on an estate by estate basis. The 100 year and more battle to protect raptors in the UK has clearly shown that appeasement/compromise/interminable discussion hasnt worked. Lets try proper enforcement for a change?
Personally I think that Remony should be congratulated on the excellent management practices which have allowed an eagle pair to raise two chicks. It is one of very few estates around here which appear to be managed in a sympathetic enough way to allow a great bio diversity. They have a huge variety of flora supporting great insect and rodent populations – allowing amphibians and small birds to flourish, providing in turn food for owls, falcons and eagles. They have not attempted to eradicate hares from the estate and it is these practices that have allowed raptors to survive and breed. It is not purely a case of sticking to the law and allowing raptors to live – it is a much wider brief than that, and Remony Estate has obviously been keeping all of the ecosystem in mind. This is what they should be congratulated for.
Dave is entitled to his beliefs regarding the translocation of eagles, eagles from the Western Isles and West mainland are just as capable of moving into the Eastern Highlands. Most of the eyries in ‘my area’ are within the SPA’s for golden eagles where chicks cannot be taken. Remony was outside this and due to the persecution of raptors on surrounding estates ( most as he knows ‘black holes’ for eagles et al) I felt the chick had a better chance of surviving and contributing to the Irish reintroduction population. As Hazel has said, Remony supports a varied diversity of wildlife and has not been attempting to eradicate the mountain hare population as has been happening on estates on it’s boundaries. In Mid April on such an estate we found many mountain hares shot the previous night by lamping with a rifle and left lying scattered over the moorland, a raven pair ‘vanished’ after years of success, electric fencing encircling the estate to keep red deer out, new grouse butts and access tracks bulldozed in – hardly bio diversity! The mountain hare culling in the cause of reducing tick (‘louping ill’) is a travesty and little has been said about this ‘management practice’ which will have dire affects on the primary prey of golden eagles in the area and increase their predation on the red grouse.
Phew! Rome wasn’t built in a day but let’s hope this is evidence that peer pressure and the WES initiative which is now around 200 estates is beginning to work.
Are the names of these 200 estates available for public scrutiny? If not, why not? You’ll get no credibility unless your claim can be independently scrutinised.
Agree. Get back to you on that. I’m one.
WES is a long game and although it has won praise from the EU and Scottish Government , as you state it is vital that the model is credible to the public.To that end the WES Pilot , begun in the Cairngorm National Park with a small number of estates is being developed and evaluated under the scrutiny of the stakeholders including RSPB. 200 further estates have signed up to abide by the qualifying measures agreed so far for Entry Level 1 WES accreditation. Until the model is evaluated and agreement is reached by all stakeholders on how the scheme will be monitored , the names of the farms and estates will not be made available to the public other than on a voluntary basis, as I and some others who provided testimonials at the Game Fair have done.