A new court date has been set for Raeshaw Estate’s judicial review of its latest General Licence restriction.
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
Raeshaw subsequently appealed the General Licence restriction decision to NatureScot but in April 2026 that appeal was lost.
Raeshaw then applied to the Court of Session in Edinburgh for a judicial review of NatureScot’s decision-making process, and permission to proceed was granted, which indicates that the court thinks that Raeshaw has an arguable case, although the details are not yet public.
A substantive hearing was for 29 September 2026 but that has now been changed to a two-day hearing on 2nd and 3rd December 2026.
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However, in 2017 the individual licence was revoked by NatureScot due to non-compliance issues and more suspected wildlife crime offences (see here).
As far as I’m aware, nobody has ever been prosecuted for any of the substantial number of confirmed and suspected wildlife crimes that have been reported in this area over the last 25 years (see here for a list compiled in 2017).
In relation to the current General Licence restriction imposed after the disappearance of Golden Eagle Merrick, Raeshaw Estate has stated that it considers the restriction is “wholly unjustified” and claims “The estate has zero tolerance for raptor persecution and remains fully committed to respecting wildlife, nature and the environment”.
The judicial review will not establish guilt or innocence in the relation to the disappearance and alleged shooting and killing of Golden Eagle Merrick. The purpose of the judicial review is to establish whether NatureScot followed lawful procedure in its decision-making process when imposing the latest General Licence restriction on Raeshaw Estate.
