Press release from Police Scotland:
Appeal after peregrine falcon found dead in a trap near Balerno, Edinburgh
Wildlife officers are appealing after a protected bird of prey was found dead in a trap near Balerno, Edinburgh.
The dead peregrine falcon was found around 100 yards from a public path on the edge of a small woodland south of Wester Bavelaw on Thursday, 23 November, 2023.
Wildlife Crime Officer, Detective Constable Daniel Crilley, said: “This protected bird was found in a baited pole trap that is illegal.
“Peregrine falcons are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act and forensic tests are being done as part of our ongoing enquiries to establish the full circumstances.
“We are asking anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area or who has information that could help pour investigation to get in touch.
“If you can help please contact us via 101, quoting incident number 1376 of Friday, 24 November, or make a call anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
ENDS
Well done Police Scotland for a speedy press release.
Pole traps, like this one photographed a few years ago on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, have been illegal since 1904, and for very good reason.
It’s a barbaric way to kill any animal and causes horrendous suffering and distress, often over a period of many hours. A spring trap is placed on a post where a bird of prey is likely to perch. When the bird lands on the ‘plate’, the trap springs shut on the bird’s legs. When the bird tries to fly off, it ends up dangling upside down because the trap is attached to the post to prevent it from being carried away. The bird remains dangling, often with severe injuries, until its ultimate demise.
Whoever set this trap, whether they were targeting a peregrine or something else, should be in jail. Anybody who is prepared to inflict this level of suffering to a living creature, let alone to a protected species, should not be at large in a civilised society.
The location of this awful crime is also of interest – just a couple of kilometres from where satellite-tagged golden eagle Fred ‘disappeared’ in 2018 (see here) before his tag (and maybe Fred) ended up in the North Sea. It’s also very close to the location of a poisoned peregrine found in the Pentlands in 2018 (here). It’s becoming quite the persecution hotspot.
It’s also yet another timely example for MSPs voting on the general principles of the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Bill in Parliament on Thursday. If this case, along with the recent suspicious disappearance of golden eagle Merrick, doesn’t help persuade MSPs that they’re being given the two-fingered salute, I don’t know what will.
UPDATE 2 December 2023: A Scottish grouse moor-owning Baron, an illegally pole-trapped peregrine and a Ministerial post in DEFRA (here)
Raptor Persecution UK 
These evil bastards simply do not give up. Was setting the trap not far from a public footpath another form of two-finger salute to the law and those who seek to enforce it?
These people dont care if they get caught or not some of the locals will have a good idea about who does this sort of thing but are unlikely to speak out because the perps will turn nasty. It is NOT tourists it’s locals with an interest in blood “sports”.
it is just so blatant. They really believe that the new act will never be enacted and they can just carry on with impunity and hardly ever be caught because the evidence just isn’t there to connect them to the crime
Living in that very area I am very saddened but not in the least surprised at this news. Those birds mentioned I’m personally 100% convinced are just the tip of the iceberg of raptors killed on the very periphery of Edinburgh in recent years. For a number of years we would regularly get Italians -claiming not to speak any English when challenged- in local fields , especially at harvest time .
I called the police a number of times about shooters as I know others have.-but gave up.Raptor’s feathers scattered close to area where the previous day shooters were in a hide supposedly shooting pigeons-having my phone grabbed off me when I took a photo and having to wrestle with a man with a gun to get it back.I reported that as was quite frightening but realised later no incident number- no follow up
We even had to put up with the sound of shooting on both November 11th and Armistice Sunday morning this month ,and no it wasn’t from the army ranges as some suggest.We are forced to listen to shooting almost every weekend at this time of year-or whenever it seems to suit someone to go out. Easter Sunday morning-shooting from before 8am
That is very courageous of you. It must have been very frightening. So disheartening that the authorities have done nothing to help
Rachel I have had on one occasion 2 wildlife policemen come to investigate and go out to something I found, some years ago,and on other occasions police certainly helped- but a lot happens even on the edge of Edinburgh and proving things not easy
I agree with above about many locals being involved and many will know who did this.
My point about Italians was just made as I myself was very surprised to repeatedly find groups of Italians claiming to speak little English on the edge of fields at harvest time/around Edinburgh Festival time, year after year.it struck me as strange that their presence repeatedly coincided with harvesting in local fields even though that time obviously varied from year to year -I thought some local must have been tipping them off
but yes- lots of locals have licences to go shooting
I knew immediately that the “Fred the Eagle” case and the previous dead (poisoned) Peregrine was nearby to this one, but the “Merlin nest being shot out’ case didn’t come straight to mind (nor the Raven case). Having just re-read all of the previous blog posts & comments on incidents in that locality, I found it interesting to think of just how carefully the SLE must have considered which Estate to take the Committee to (and which ones to avoid). Odd that though there are typical large Estates like this one to pick from on the doorstep of the Parliament, the SLE chose instead to take everybody south for an hour plus drive. Fortunate (or well planned?) too, that while on that lovely jolly day out they likely turned off the public road just a very few miles prior to inevitably passing the keepers cottage and site of Henlaw Wood (now logged / chopped down) at Longformacus Estate, which might have rung a few bells / caused a few cringes! In the Merlin blog I was struck by the lengths the SSPCA went to to try and help the investigation (they cut off the top of the tree where the nest was and had it X-rayed – they found it peppered with shotgun pellets), which is doubly ironic as it says a lot about why everyone of good conscience wants the SSPCA to be allowed more investigatory powers under these proposals.
It will end when the political, judicial and economic power ( National, Regional and Local) is no longer sufficient to ensure such a strict and narrow interpretation of the law that is presented nominally to protect the rights of the defendants.
Its upsetting stuff but happening everywhere I live not far from Nidderdale xxxxxxxx they have the Great reputation of being the worst persecution of birds of prey in North Yorkshire and use pole traps. I have disturbing footage from police on my phone of a bird in a pole trap also poisoning with cocktails of pesticides mixes with fertilizer put in rabbits and a girl walking spaniels ingested these one died other very ill toxicology revealed cause. Local shop owner put a big reward to catch culprits because it brings bad publicity to the area, it was on news all very sad sickening scumbags and lowlife. I hate to think they share the same chromosomes but I wonder.
I agree with Quercus comment and I also believe someone knows the perpetrator, they need to grow a large pair of you know what ( rythmes with smalls)and report them .
[Ed: Thanks natureconx – I can’t publish that but am aware, thanks]