Those award-winning scientific gurus at the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association have been sharing their intellectual acumen as they interpret recent scientific research relating to raptors.
First up is Professor Bert Burnett, who chose Facebook as his outlet (well, scientific journals are just so passé) for an examination of the recent paper on historical eagle distribution in the UK and Ireland (see here). His thesis starts with this:
“The RSPB are even more powerful than i thought. The are now able to contact the dead, who had the foresight to record raptor numbers on blocks of stone knowing that the RSPB would be needing the info in 3,000 years time. Has anyone actually checked the validity of this latest garbage from RSPB? We have also had teradactals etc in the uk, have the RSPB got the population info on them as well? With a bunch of irate 21st century farmers breathing down their necks, me thinks the RSPB are getting fidgity“.
Thirty-four minutes later, Professor Burnett decided that actually, this peer-reviewed scientific paper might be useful after all, as it appears to support his hypothesis that eagles are not constrained by persecution and certainly not by gamekeepers, no siree bob:
“looking at the post 3000 year population figures from RSPB i note that the golden eagle pop. was 650 for the uk as a whole. Scotland has 440 now, living in a much changed counryside from 3000bc, i would think this is a huge success story not the doom and gloom pushed out by the RSPB“.
Had Professor Burnett studied the data in a little bit more detail, he would have noted that the golden eagle breeding population estimate for c. 500 was actually 1,000 – 1,500 pairs. Oops.
Professor Burnett’s esteemed colleague, Professor Alex Hogg, also had his own unique interpretation on recent scientific research, this time on the DEFRA buzzard ‘study’. Choosing that highly-acclaimed scientific journal Shooting Times to report his scientific results, Prof Hogg wrote this:
“In Scotland, we are already ahead of where England is now with this [the proposed buzzard ‘study’ that included the destruction of nests and permanent removal of adult buzzards into captivity]. The trials have been done“. (Read full article here).
Really? Where and when were these trials done in Scotland, and where are the published, peer-reviewed results?
Professors Burnett and Hogg are not the only ones from the game-shooting community who have been demonstrating a shocking ability to misinterpret science….more in a following post.
Raptor Persecution UK 
Not a very well educated person is he? Spelling also needs looking at = PTERODACTYL
Is a teradactal some kind of land measurement? I’m not sure I could trust a ‘professor’ who can’t spell or use cap locks e.g. uk, or is he just trying to get down with the kids or those with a similar intellect?
Well, well, well. So Prof. Hogg at last admits it – does this admission mean the Scottish gamekeepers (the members of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association and himself) ARE indeed breaking the law on their estates, and not just a few ‘bad eggs’? Time for action ye Scottish Procurator Fiscals and police forces me-thinks! How about making a start with Prof. Hogg himself?
[Ed: Tony, you’ll see your comment has been edited slightly – you’ll no doubt understand why!!]
No problem. I do indeed understand!
Thank you for doing this blog!
Surely the more rational and educated readers of this blog cannot begin to think the UK as a whole has not changed in 3000 years that it can still possibly support the same densities of both Golden and Sea Eagles!? Unbanisation, population growth and spread ands changes in habitat surely have to be taken into account! I know there is many anti-gamekeeper members of this blog but this doesnt mean common sense has to go totally out the window!
[Ed: the first sentence of your comment has been edited, for obvious reasons!]
No problem thats understandable!
Plenty of space in this country for large numbers of birds of prey. You used to get Red Kites in the middle of cities. No reason why we can’t share this land with other animals. I’d like to see the day that we stop being so bloody minded and started to accept that we are part of nature and not seperate from it.