The BBC is reporting the discovery of a dead bird (species unknown) this morning, found near to a suspected poisoned bait on what has been described as “open ground” in the Carmichael area of South Lanarkshire.
The bait (and presumably the carcass of the dead bird?) has been sent for forensic analysis.
The police are warning the public about the potential dangers of finding animal/bird carcasses and are urging people to report anything suspicious.
This is impressive stuff from Police Scotland – discovery made this morning, press release out by the afternoon. Long may this new approach continue.
BBC article here
It looks like the wildlife poisoners have started the year as they mean to go on….we couldn’t even get through January! This incident will simply add more pressure on an already beleaguered Environment Minister…how many more incidents does he need to see before he takes strong and decisive action?
Raptor Persecution UK 
Here’s a thought…Police Scotland are in the spotlight at the moment for their very high stop and search activity at present…[ http://www.scotsman.com/news/scotland/top-stories/scottish-police-stop-and-search-numbers-double-1-3272937%5D…given the high levels of suspected criminality within the gamekeeping community, why not direct some stop and search onto four by fours on shooting estates? Starting with those estates where multiple crimes have been recorded.
That would be a real response to a real problem.
After the cockup of misidentifying roe deer for badgers perhaps the police are waiting for an expert to identify? It would have appeared to have been brought to public attention promptly by the police.
In relatively recent times that would have been carried out by contacting the RSPB [for bird ID] a very easy process now, given the technology available for sending digital photos…or has that link been broken entirely?..I would be worried if the 6 month wait for details being made public, was replaced by hurried unchecked details being given out, before any sensible urgent investigation [as is necessary with poison lying about]. For one thing this allows the perpetrator to hide evidence and for another it allows those with expertise to advise on such as ground searches.
Wonder if they’ll get their general license’s revoked. Hopefully someone can explain what difference this would make to a criminal, they poison protected species so you then tell them they are no longer allowed to kill species others can legally control. I cant see that making any difference to them at all when I first read it I thought it was another time stalling tactic, un police able and un enforceable. wasn’t there another law introduced called vicarious liability. How many years will we have to wait before that gets utilised and how many more poisoning incidents will we discover, remember its usually spring before “pest control” starts in earnest for the untouchables
Thanks to @TheFallsofClyde for the following tweet tonight:
“Had a guy in our visitor centre today saying his dog was poisoned by ‘blue bait’ at Carmichael estate earlier in the week”.
Interesting to hear this incident reportedly took place on an ‘estate’. What’s the betting that ‘blue bait’ was Carbofuran?
Another tweet from @TheFallsofClyde, in response to our speculation that the poison was Carbofuran:
“That’s what the guy said it was. It’s just so irresponsible there’s p.school right next to the estate who visit…”
The ‘blue bait’ has not yet been identified.
It was found on ground which was on the Carmichael estate in the past but may not still be on the estate shoot. If not then it is within approx. 50 metres of the boundary.
It is in an area where people take their family & pets walking.
There is absolutely nothing to link this incident to the estate.
Whoever did this is beyond contempt and should be locked up for a long time or do we wait till some kid gets hurt.
Interesting.. a very high proportion of poisonings are found close to estate boundaries, to confuse any investigation…”blue bait” could of course be anything from a carbamate to rat poison to slug pellets.[all dangerous of course]…which is one reason we need professional follow ups to such incidents.
To clarify Carmichael Estate is NOT a shooting Estate in 2013/14. There is no gamekeeper on the Estate and the bait was NOT found on Estate land so please be careful of making assumptions here! There is obviously serious criminal intent here which the police are fully investigating. We very much hope that the police get to the bottom of this incident.
Thanks for the clarification.
Interesting to see ‘Pot Roasted Carmichael Estate Partridge’ on the winter 2013 menu of a local hostelry!
http://thelintmill.co.uk/our-local-harvest-eating-with-the-seasons/
Very interesting indeed! We only sell venison, beef and lamb through our shop and farmers markets. Incredible what people can claim on their menus. Thank you for letting us know we will contact them to find out where they get their partridge from.
Very Interesting indeed! We only sell our own farmed venison, beef and lamb through our farm shop and through farmers’ markets. Many thanks for this link. We will have to ask them where they get this from. I would very much doubt that it would be from anywhere in the Carmichael area.
Apparently the ‘pot roasted Carmichael Estate partridge’ was incorrectly cited on the Lint Mill’s website and it comes from Dykefoot Farm. They have now corrected the origin of their partridge on their website menu. We did think it was a little odd considering there have only been a handful of partridges on the Estate in the last 35 years. Thanks for drawing our attention to this.
I, for one, never said it was….you are perfectly correct about assumptions, which is why most of us repeatedly call for fast and professional investigations into suspected wildlife crime..rather than having it suddenly appear in the press with no reference to Police/SSPCA or RSPB follow up. However, I would add here that a poisoned bait left on open land in Scotland [see the archived stats on this page, RSPB reports and Government reports] is more likely to be on a shooting estate than elsewhere.
[for the administrator]…has this poisoning been confirmed?!!