Five red kites and a buzzard have been found dead in suspicious circumstances in Ross-shire in the last week.
The birds were reportedly found at different but nearby locations in the Conon Bridge and Muir of Ord area between 18-24 March 2014.
Police Scotland say it is currently unclear how the birds died but it was likely the deaths involved “some form of criminality”.
A local source has told us that poisoning is suspected, although toxicology results are not yet available to confirm this.
This is a surprisingly fast response from Police Scotland. Anyone with information about these dead birds is encouraged to contact the police on Tel: 101.
BBC news article here
Photo of a red kite by Mali Halls
Raptor Persecution UK 
Excellent that Police Scotland have been fast off the mark this time. Let’s hope the Crown Office doesn’t let them down, if the toxicology results confirm poisoning.
What dreadful news for the Black Isle Kite project.
Just goes to show despite all the waffle from the usual sources, the persecutions of protected raptors is as bad as ever over large parts of Scotland
Another shocking episode, just the tip of the iceberg no doubt………….
Will be interesting to see if this is treated as one offence or six in the official stats….
That poor Red Kite, Black Isle population, has no chance against all the many criminals that live around it!
A 200 per cent increase in one area alone on the 2011 poisoning figures when we were told that the tide had turned regarding the use of poisons and that they would soon be a thing of the past. Stand up all those who said this and take a look at yourselves in the mirror, you got it wrong this time, yet again. at what point do you think we can stand by critising other countries for wildlife crimes while we continue to ignore our own.. wouldn,t it be better for the RSPB to either drop the word protection from its name or drop the royal so it can make a proper stand against this instead of repeatedly sitting on the fence. another absolute digrace occuring once again in our countryside
Hi Merlin, agree fully with the first half of your comment, but not sure why this incident warrants an attack on the RSPB?
Also not sure how they can be validly accused of ‘repeatedly sitting on the fence’.
RPS, Another week were a gamekeeper has walked away from a courtroom smirking to himself and more Raptors are found poisoned. The RSPB has over a million members, that is one hell of a political lobby, so far as I can see it isn’t putting any pressure on the government and hardly seems to be winning any courtroom battles. the fact that covert video footage still cant be used as evidence in Scotland borders on the absurd, they should have been pushing for this years ago, they’ve used it often enough in England
On the contrary, the RSPB (in Scotland at least) is consistently applying pressure on the government, although much of that is behind the scenes.
Re: covert video footage. Again, RSPB has lobbied hard to get this ridiculous situation overturned in Scotland but has been blocked at every turn, not least by COPFS. However, watch this space….the Environment Minister’s ‘new measures’ that he announced last summer (which we believe to include applied pressure on COPFS to accept covert footage) will be tested in a forthcoming court case this spring….
Re: RSPB’s million + members – yes, agree with you there, their voting power could be much better utilised on this issue, no doubt about it.
Shocking. There was a red kite flying over the northern end of the Kessock bridge last weekend….what a glorious welcome to Rossshire…..I didn’t think anything of it when I didn’t see it when I headed back south. Shocking.
Were they buoyed up and empowered by the Not Proven decision?
RPS, I stil stand by my criticism of the RSPB, I take your point regarding them doing a lot of work behind the scenes but I dont think that is anywhere near enough to make any inroads into this battle. the shooting fraternity have organisations dedicated to promoting their sport, look at the response to the John,s petition, as others have pointed out it could have been written by the countryside alliance. the court case this week with the not proven verdict, how ridiculous is it that even if someone had filmed the guy setting the trap the verdict would have been the same because that evidence is insubmissable. Thhe RSPB Need to be singing this from the roof tops not fighting quietly behind the scenes. if I hadnt read that on here I would not have known about it. I,ve looked for it, the general public wont. the RSPB is fighting with kid gloves and being battered down with a baseball bat! we,ll still be here in ten years time at this rate
Can someone point me to the case that said that covert evidence wasn’t acceptable – in a previous life, I used it on several occasions to secure a prosecution (albeit in pre HRA/RIPSA days)