In February this year, NatureScot imposed a three-year General Licence restriction on Raeshaw Estate, a grouse-shooting estate in the Scottish Borders believed to be under the management of ‘grouse guru’ sporting agent Mark Osborne.
The General Licence restriction related to the disappearance of a satellite-tagged Golden Eagle called ‘Merrick’, who Police Scotland believe was ‘shot & killed‘ as she slept in a tree on neighbouring land close to Raeshaw Estate’s boundary, in October 2023.
Who Owns Scotland website
In response, Raeshaw Estate issued what I would describe as a bombastic statement, arguing that the General Licence restriction was “wholly unjustified” and that the estate would “challenge [the restriction] vigorously through an appeal“.
Raeshaw subsequently appealed the decision to NatureScot but in April that appeal was lost.
Raeshaw Estate has now applied for a judicial review of NatureScot’s decision-making process and permission has been granted for a substantive hearing in September 2026. This permission to proceed indicates that the court thinks that Raeshaw Estate has an arguable case, although the grounds for that case are not yet public.
This isn’t the first time Raeshaw Estate has been subject to a General Licence restriction in relation to wildlife crime and nor is it the first time it has tried to overturn it via judicial review.
This is an unprecedented second General Licence restriction for Raeshaw Estate. It was one of the first estates to receive a General Licence restriction in 2015, based on clear police evidence that wildlife crimes had been committed although, just as with the latest General Licence restriction, there was insufficient evidence to prosecute any individual (see here).
Representatives of Raeshaw Estate applied for a judicial review of NatureScot’s 2015 decision but the Court of Session upheld NatureScot’s procedures and ruled the process was lawful (here).
Whilst under that first General Licence restriction, Raeshaw Estate applied for, and was granted, a number of ‘individual licences’ so the gamekeepers could continue to kill certain species as part of the estate’s grouse moor management plan (quite a lot of birds were lawfully killed – see here).
However, in 2017 the individual licence was revoked by NatureScot due to non-compliance issues and more suspected wildlife crime offences (see here).
I note that NatureScot has not suspended the latest General Licence restriction on Raeshaw Estate and at the time of writing, it is still in place.
Raptor Persecution UK 