Author: RaptorPersecutionUK

NatureScot says “decision in next few weeks” on whether to impose General Licence restriction in relation to shooting & killing of golden eagle Merrick

The Scottish Government’s nature advisory agency, NatureScot, has been now been procrastinating for over 18 months on whether to impose a sanction on an estate in relation to the ‘shooting and killing’ of a sleeping Golden Eagle called Merrick. But apparently a decision is now expected “in the next few weeks”.

Merrick was a young satellite-tagged Golden Eagle, released in south Scotland in 2022 as part of the South Scotland Golden Eagle Project, a lottery-funded conservation initiative which translocated young Golden Eagles from various sites across north Scotland to boost the tiny remnants of the Golden Eagle breeding population in south Scotland that had previously been decimated by illegal persecution and had become isolated by geographic barriers.

Camera trap photo of golden eagle Merrick in 2022, from South Scotland Golden Eagle Project

A year after her release, which had seen her fly around south Scotland and down into northern England and back, on 12 October 2023 Merrick’s satellite tag suddenly and inexplicably stopped transmitting from a roost site in the Moorfoot Hills in the Scottish Borders where she’d been sleeping overnight.

A project officer from the South Scotland Golden Eagle Project went to her last known location where he found Merrick’s feathers and blood directly below her roost tree. Police Scotland later determined from the evidence that she’d been ‘shot and killed’ and that someone had then ‘removed her body and destroyed her satellite tag’ (see here).

There was limited scope for anyone to be charged and prosecuted for killing this eagle unless someone in the know came forward with sufficient evidence to identify the individual(s) responsible. In addition, the prospect of an estate having its grouse-shooting licence withdrawn as a consequence of this crime was zero, given that this offence took place prior to the enactment of the Wildlife & Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024, the legislation that introduced grouse moor licensing.

That just left a General Licence restriction as a possible sanction. Not that I’d describe a GL restriction as an effective sanction, for reasons that have been explored previously on this blog (e.g. here and here). Nevertheless, it’s still something and, given the high-profile of Merrick’s death, you might think that making a decision on whether to impose a GL restriction would be a high priority for NatureScot.

Not so.

I wrote about NatureScot’s procrastination on this case in August (see here), after receiving a response to a Freedom of Information request I’d lodged in June 2025. That response confirmed that NatureScot had received an information package from Police Scotland, on which it would base its General Licence restriction decision, in April 2024.

I blogged again in September, highlighting that NatureScot had now procrastinated for 17 months. Unbeknownst to me at the time, that blog prompted two blog readers to write to NatureScot, and one of them lodged a formal complaint against the agency.

Blog reader Stuart Wilson has kindly given permission for me to share the response he received recently from NatureScot in relation to his complaint, which is almost identical to the response blog reader SusanH shared on this blog a few days ago on an unrelated post.

Windfarms vs Wilderness – the destruction of Coignafearn (guest blog by Fred Rutter)

This is a guest blog written by Fred Rutter, a 57-year-old business consultant who lives in West London and visits the Scottish Highlands every year. Publication on the RPUK blog does not indicate endorsement of any of the claims made.

WINDFARMS vs WILDNERNESS – THE DESTRUCTION OF COIGNAFEARN

We need renewable energy, so we need windfarms. But wind turbine generators and electrical infrastructure have a significant impact on their local environment. So, what is the balance?

Windmills have sprouted up all over the highlands and now plans are in to install two massive new developments in the Monadhliaths, a magnificent area of pristine, high moorland wilderness and one of the last remaining. Windfarms are proven to have a seriously detrimental effect on local bird populations, (Drewitt & Langston, 2006; De Lucas, Janss, & Ferrer, 2007; Arnett & May, 2016) and the significant study by Duriez, Pilard, Saulnier, Boudarel and  Besnard, published: 13 September 2022 on long term populations, showing that even strong, healthy populations go into decline due to collisions, lost of habitat and loss of prey species.

The Monadhliaths stand on the other side of the A9 to the Cairngorms, a place now ruined by too many visitors, mountain bike tracks and Leylandii hedges.  As Wikipedia says – “The landscape of the Monadhliath is one of the most ancient in Britain.” It is intact, pristine and perfect. But perhaps not for long.

This is the place where, more than 15 years ago, I saw my first Golden Eagle in the wild, where I saw my first Peregrine in the wild, where I saw my first Hen Harrier. This is the place where Merlins streak across the heather after Pipits, where red deer and wild goats appear over the hillcrest. This is a truly inspirational place where, as a human, you feel small, a place where the silence and sheer magnificence of nature feed your soul!

The Findhorn Valley at Coignafearn looking east and west (Fred Rutter)

This September, as I stood on the valley floor taking the pics above, a Golden Eagle floated into view over the top, immediately to be mobbed by a kestrel and then yo-yoed by a pair of Peregrines. It was spectacular. If the wind turbines had been installed, that eagle coming over the top, would have been chopped to pieces.

Golden Eagle and Peregrine at Coignafearn (Fred Rutter)

The Monadhliaths have lain undisturbed since the ice retreated. They are home to our wildest of wild, and now they propose to build service roads into the interior, plough through the peat and heather, install great chopping blades where I have watched eagles holding into the wind, install new pylons to carry the electricity and at night all this will be illuminated.

Strathdearn now (Fred Rutter)
Visualisation of Strathdearn with proposed wind turbines

This proposal will complete destroy one of the most inspiring wild places in the UK. And there is no one really there to complain. This is more than a crying shame, this is an outrageous travesty. If this windfarm proposal goes ahead we will have lost one of our last true wildernesses forever. We must come together to protect this magical, magical place. We need wind farms, but this is completely out of balance.

You can help!

Please add your name and address to the letter (see download below) and send it to: Econsents_Admin@gov.scot and representations@gov.scot

Quoting the Reference: Highland Wind Farm ECU00005082

Here is the letter to download:

Highland Windfarm Letter of ObjectionDownload

‘Eyes on the Skies’ – video now available from launch of new project to raise awareness of illegal raptor persecution in Yorkshire Dales National Park

Last month a local campaign group called Friends of the Dales launched a new campaign to raise awareness of illegal raptor persecution in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (see here).

This new campaign from the local community follows the  recent collapse of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Bird of Prey Partnership (due to its failure to tackle crimes against birds of prey), and the news that since 2015, 29 Hen Harriers have gone ‘missing’ in suspicious circumstances and almost 40 other raptors have been found poisoned, trapped or shot in the Yorkshire Dales National Park since 2015, including Peregrines, Hen Harriers, Red Kites and Buzzards.

The Friends of the Dales group is planning a series of events as part of its campaign, and it kicked off with a webinar delivered by Kate Jennings, Head of Conservation and Species Policy at the RSPB, who gave a detailed overview about raptor persecution in the UK.

The webinar was recorded and is now available to watch on the Friends of the Dales YouTube channel here.

For more information about the Eyes on the Skies campaign, visit the Friends of the Dales website here.

Peregrine Falcon chicks at Worcester Cathedral died from ingesting poison

Three Peregrine chicks that hatched on Worcester Cathedral all died within a few weeks, earlier this spring. Two of the dead chicks were retrieved and sent for post mortem and the results have now shown they died from ingesting poison.

The name of the poison hasn’t been published but a statement by the group who monitor the adult Peregrines at Worcester Cathedral (‘Peregrine Falcons in Worcester’) says, ‘Both birds had internal bleeding consistent with death from poison‘, which suggests the poison was probably a Second Generation Anti-coagulant Rodenticide (SGAR).

The adult breeding pair (known as ‘Peter’ and ‘Peggy’) are fine.

The BBC News website has an article on the news (here) and states that West Mercia Police had received a report but the investigation has closed due to ‘evidential difficulties’.

One of the adult Peregrines at Worcester Cathedral. (Photo from Worcester Cathedral)

A recent report written by Dr Ed Blane and published on the Wildlife Poisoning Research UK website shows that there has been a substantial increase in Peregrine exposure to SGARs, and especially to the poison Brodifacoum. The same issue is affecting Foxes and Otters.

This follows a report published last year ‘Collateral Damage‘ by Wild Justice which reported an alarming increase in SGARs exposure in Buzzards and Red Kites and was heavily critical of the Rodenticide Stewardship Scheme and how the government was ignoring the evidence.

As a result, the Health & Safety Executive, which controls the approval regime in the UK for rodenticides and decides what can and cannot be used, ran a public consultation in September 2025 to look at alternatives to SGARs.

The results of that consultation are awaited.

Shot Buzzard found in Herefordshire

A young Buzzard was found in a field in Leominster, Herefordshire last week, unable to fly.

An x-ray revealed at least two shotgun pellets lodged in its body. It’s not known when the bird was shot, or where.

Photo by Sasha Norris
Photo via Sasha Norris

The Buzzard is currently receiving expert veterinary care from Dr Sasha Norris of Hereford Wildlife Rescue with assistance from Holmer Veterinary Surgery in Hereford and Battle Flatts Veterinary Clinic in Yorkshire.

Sasha reports that the Buzzard was ‘alert, bright and eating well’ this morning.

Statement from RSPB Scotland Director on proposed amendment to close grouse moor licence loophole

Following the excellent news yesterday that the Scottish Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie MSP has committed to closing the loophole on grouse moor licences (here), RSPB Scotland Director Anne McCall has issued the following statement:

“I am feeling cautiously hopeful following an announcement by Jim Fairlie MSP, Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity, promising the Scottish Government will fix an unintended loophole in last year’s landmark legislation to make land management more sustainable through an amendment to the Natural Environment Bill.

“When the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Act was passed in 2024, it was monumental. Scotland finally had legislation to provide a meaningful deterrent to stop the illegal killing of birds of prey linked to grouse moor management, with NatureScot empowered to remove a grouse shooting licence when illegal killing is confirmed to them by Police Scotland.

The illegal killing of birds of prey is directly linked to the management of moorland for Red Grouse shooting. Photo: Ronnie Gilbert

“However, it has become clear that the wording of the legislation means its implementation does not match the original intention of the Scottish Parliament and risks failing Scotland’s wildlife. Currently, landowners can register for a licence for just the land specifically used for shooting. This means that even if a crime was confirmed in another part of the landowner’s holding, for example neighbouring woodland where some birds of prey breed, the licence may not be removed, unless that crime could be specifically linked to management of the grouse moor.

“Our team that works alongside public enforcement agencies to investigate wildlife crime knows all too well how often birds are killed in woodland or nearby farmland rather than on the moors themselves, and that obtaining the level of proof the current licence conditions demand would be exceedingly difficult, especially on a land-holding that may have other gamebird shooting interests.   

“An amendment to the Wildlife and Countryside Act, via the Natural Environment Bill, to ensure that a whole sporting estate is included in any grouse shooting licence will remove the unintended loophole in the legislation and ensure that Scotland truly takes a major step forward for wildlife protection and accountability.

“This approach has secured cross-party support thanks in no small part to efforts by Mark Ruskell MSP in highlighting the issue and the risk to Scotland’s reputation.     

“We will be keeping a close eye on this, along with other crucial changes to the Natural Environment Bill, as it passes through Parliament“.

ENDS

The Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill is currently at Stage 2 of its passage through the Scottish Parliament. Amendments can be lodged by MSPs up until 13 November and these are expected to be debated on 19 November 2025.

BREAKING NEWS: Scottish Government commits to closing loophole on sabotaged grouse moor licences

BREAKING NEWS:

The Scottish Government has committed to closing the loophole on the grouse moor licences that were sabotaged last year by the powerful grouse shooting lobby.

If you recall, grouse moor licensing was introduced as part of the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024, as a result of the continued illegal killing of birds of prey on grouse moors and the associated difficulties of identifying an individual suspect and prosecuting them.

The idea was that a licence to shoot Red Grouse could be amended / withdrawn / revoked by NatureScot if evidence showed that illegal raptor persecution had taken place (importantly, based on the civil burden of proof, i.e. balance of probability, rather than the criminal burden of proof, i.e. beyond reasonable doubt). It was expected that the licence would cover an estate’s entire landholding, not just the areas where Red Grouse are shot, because raptor persecution crimes often take place beyond the boundary of the moor (e.g. in woodland).

However, last November, the licences were significantly weakened after legal threats from the grouse shooting industry. Instead of now covering an entire estate, it was announced that the licence holder could decide on the extent of the area the licence covered, specifically the area where Red Grouse are ‘taken or killed’.

Effectively, this could mean simply drawing an arbitrary line around their grouse butts, denoting the reach of a shotgun pellet, and argue that THAT is the area where they take/kill grouse and thus that should be the extent of the licensable area:

Photo of a line of grouse-shooting butts by Richard Cross, annotated by RPUK

There has been a year of prolonged campaigning to get this loophole closed, led by Green MSP Mark Ruskell and RSPB Scotland, and this work has now paid off.

In a letter to the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs & Islands Committee (the committee scrutinising the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill), published today, Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie has committed to introducing an amendment at Stage 2 of the Bill to close off this loophole.

Here’s his letter:

Natural Environment Bill Grouse Licensing Amendment_Jim Fairlie 30Oct2025 to RACDownload

We haven’t yet seen the details of Mr Fairlie’s proposed amendment but the deadline for MSPs to submit amendments at Stage 2 closes on 13 November 2025, so we shouldn’t have long to wait.

There’s more to say about this welcome move, and all the hard work that has gone on behind the scenes to reach this stage. I’ll be blogging more about this and I’ll also be discussing it at this weekend’s REVIVE conference in Perth (tickets still available – here).

For now, I see this as very, very good news.

UPDATE 4 November 2025: Statement from RSPB Scotland Director on proposed amendment to close grouse moor licence loophole (here)

UPDATE 14 November 2025: Scottish Minister Jim Fairlie provides rationale behind proposed amendment to close loophole on grouse shoot licence (here)

Shot Pheasants & Red-legged Partridges dumped in Penicuik, Scotland

It’s another gamebird shooting season and that means shot Pheasants and Red-legged Partridges being illegally dumped (fly-tipped) by the side of a road.

Thanks to the blog reader who alerted me to the latest incident, posted a few days ago on Facebook – a pile of shot Pheasants and Red-legged Partridges found dumped just off Bellwood Road in Penicuik, south Scotland.

Shot & dumped Pheasants & Red-legged Partridges (photo from Facebook)

It’s likely these birds were given to a shoot participant to take home and he/she decided to dump them instead because they couldn’t be arsed to prepare them for cooking and besides, they’d already served their purpose as live targets shot for entertainment.

Regular blog readers will know that the dumping of shot gamebirds is a common and widespread illegal practice that has been going on for years, despite the repeated denials by the shooting industry. Who else do they think is doing this if not the people involved in gamebird shooting?! The disposal of animal by-products (including shot gamebirds) is regulated and the dumping of these carcasses is an offence.

Previous reports include dumped birds found in Cheshire (here), Scottish borders (here), Norfolk (here), Perthshire (here), Berkshire (here), North York Moors National Park (here) and some more in North York Moors National Park (here) and even more in North Yorkshire (here), Co. Derry (here), West Yorkshire (here), and again in West Yorkshire (here), N Wales (here), mid-Wales (here), Leicestershire (here), Lincolnshire (here), Somerset (here), Derbyshire’s Peak District National Park (here), Suffolk (here), Leicestershire again (here), Somerset again (here), Liverpool (here), even more in North Wales (here) even more in Wales, again (here), in Wiltshire (here) in Angus (here), in Somerset again (here), once again in North Yorkshire (here), yet again in West Yorkshire (here), yet again in mid-Wales (here), even more in mid-Wales (here), more in Derbyshire (here), Gloucestershire (here) more in Cheshire (here), some in Cumbria (here), some more in the Scottish Borders (here) and again in Lincolnshire (here), in Nottinghamshire (here) and even more in Lincolnshire (here).

Unless someone was seen dumping these shot gamebirds there’s no way of knowing who did it or from which gamebird shoot they originated. There’s no requirement for shoot managers to fit identifying markers to their livestock, which would make them traceable, because gamebird ‘livestock’ absurdly changes legal status to ‘wildlife’ as soon as the birds are released from the rearing pens for shooting (see Wild Justice’s blog on Schrodinger’s Pheasant for details).

Obviously, it’s irresponsible (and illegal) to dump shot gamebirds at any time but especially so when the UK Government (and the Scottish and Welsh Governments) has declared a nationwide Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPZ) due to the heightened risk of the spread of highly pathogenic Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) amongst captive and wild birds.

These declarations make it a legal requirement for all bird keepers to follow strict and enhanced biosecurity measures to help protect their flocks from the threat of Avian Influenza. In some areas, the risk is considered so severe that mandatory housing measures have also been declared.

I’m sure this won’t be the last example of the thoughtless, feckless and unaccountable actions of the gamebird shooting industry this season, who yet again do what they like, when they like and to hell with the consequences because there aren’t any.

Scottish Govt fiddles while grouse moors burn

Earlier this month the Scottish Government announced a delay, for the second time, of the implementation of muirburn licensing after caving in to pressure from aggressive lobbying by the grouse shooting industry (see here).

The very same day this announcement was made, prescribed muirburn, started (legally) by gamekeepers on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park, got out of control and developed in to a wildfire, causing damage to the neighbouring Muir of Dinnet National Nature Reserve (see here and here).

A blog reader has sent in this photo of the aftermath of that fire, showing part of the torched moorland and an ‘information’ board that stands nearby, apparently produced by the Grampian Moorland Group (gamekeepers) and endorsed with the logos of a number of shooting industry organisations, as well as the Cairngorms National Park Authority. I doubt it’s meant to be ironic, but it is.

The text on that ‘information’ board deserves close attention, so here’s a zoomed-in version for your amusement:

Many other grouse moors have also been torched this month – standard practice at this time of year and set to continue for the next six months until the muirburn season ends on 31 March 2026.

Imagine that! Six months of setting fire to one of the most sensitive and important habitats for carbon sequestration, in the middle of a climate emergency, with the blessing of a Government that is ignoring the will and intent of the Scottish Parliament by delaying the implementation of the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024. And all because it doesn’t want to upset wealthy landowners. It’s astonishing.

Grouse moor set alight on Invercauld Estate, Cairngorms National Park, Oct 2025 (photo from blog reader)
Grouse moor set alight in the Monadhliaths, Oct 2025 (photo from another blog reader)

Had the Scottish Government adhered to the will of Parliament, the torching of grouse moors, carried out to increase the number of Red Grouse available for shooting, would not be happening.

Muirburn licensing, which would only permit the fires under very limited circumstances (and not for the purpose of increasing Red Grouse stocks for shooting), was supposed to have been in place by the start of the 2025/2026 muirburn season on 15 September 2025, following the Scottish Parliament voting in favour of it 18 months previously.

However, in June 2025 the Scottish Government announced it was delaying implementation until 1 January 2026 because the grouse shooting industry had laughably argued that it wasn’t practical or fair for the licences to begin in September 2025 (see here).

Since then, the grouse shooting industry has continued its lobbying and now wants the licences dropped altogether because of what it calls the ‘need’ for muirburn to ‘control the fuel load’ – the amount of combustible vegetation which could influence the intensity and spread of wildfires. The lobbying was successful, leading to Minister Jim Fairlie’s announcement earlier this month that licensing would now be delayed until the start of next year’s muirburn season in autumn 2026.

But as Scottish Greens MSP Ariane Burgess pointed out,

“During the scrutiny of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Act we took detailed evidence on the role of muirburn in wildfire risk. There is very little credible evidence to support the hunting and shooting lobby’s ridiculous claim that these practices have any role in preventing wildfires“.

This theme continues today in another excellent blog written by Professor Douglas MacMillan and posted on the Parkswatchscotland website. Professor MacMillan shows compelling evidence that ‘the practice of muirburn actually made no difference to the extent of the Dava mega-fire‘.

Well worth a read – here.

Defra announces new measures as Bird Flu cases rise again

In January this year, Defra declared the whole of England (and Scotland) an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone (AIPV), after increased outbreaks of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI, also known as Bird Flu).

In addition to this, throughout the year various mandatory housing orders for bird flocks were introduced and then relaxed in a number of high-risk counties.

However, as from Thursday 30 October 2025, mandatory housing measures will come into force once again across a large number of counties in England, following another increase in the number of detected HPAI outbreaks.

Here is the declaration announcing the mandatory new housing measures, as well as details of all the other biosecurity etc measures still in place across England:

Declaration_of_an_Avian_Influenza_Prevention_Zone__England__-_mandatory_biosecurity_and_housing_measures__28_October_Download

Amidst all this, conservationists have argued that the release of ~60 million non-native gamebirds for shooting created more risk for the spread of this highly contagious disease, especially when research revealed that a large number of shooting estates were not even declaring they had birds, making it impossible for Defra and APHA (Animal & Plant Health Agency) to monitor and manage the risk.

Defra and Natural England responded by withdrawing General Licence 45 (the licence permitting the release of gamebirds on or within 500m of a Special Protected Area (SPA)) and heavily reducing the number of individual licences for the same purpose (see here). In August, enhanced mandatory biosecurity measures were also introduced, including for game bird shoots, and these remain in place.

Over the last month, a series of new Bird flu outbreaks have been detected – nine in England, one in Wales and one in Northern Ireland. These outbreaks have been mostly at commercial poultry facilities but worryingly one of the current outbreaks is at the Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust Martin Mere Reserve in Lancashire. According to a BBC News report the outbreak was in an enclosed area away from visitors and the reserve has now reopened again after shutting for several days last week.

Here’s the list of current Avian Influenza outbreaks:

ENGLAND

Nr Newington, Swale, Kent (AIV2025/71), 27 Oct 2025. Centred around grid ref TG8705566097.

Nr Cumwhitton, Cumbria (AIV2025/62), 28 Sept 2025. Centred around grid ref NY4981852576.

Nr Lakenheath, Suffolk (AIV2025/70), 26 Oct 2025. Centred around grid ref TL7140385506.

Nr Penrith, Cumbria (AIV2025/69), 25 Oct 2025. Centred around grid red NY4960129288.

Nr Bedale, Thirsk & Malton, North Yorkshire (AIV2025/68), 25 Oct 2025. Centred around grid ref SE2558892790.

Nr Burscough, Lancashire (AIV2025/66), 24 Oct 2025. Centred around grid ref SD4265514539.

Nr Penrith (again), Cumbria (AIV2025/65), 18 Oct 2025. Centred around grid ref NY4926628701.

Nr Wybunbury, Cheshire (AIV2025/64), 13 Oct 2025. Centred around grid ref SJ7412046475.

Broughton, nr Stockbridge, Hants (AIV2025/63), 11 Oct 2025. Centred around grid ref SU3061332391.

WALES

Llandrillo, Denbighshire, 25 Oct 2025. Centred around grid ref SJ0309339758.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Nr Omagh, County Tyrone, 9 Oct 2025 (no further details available).

UPDATE 12 November 2025: Compulsory housing orders across England, Wales & Northern Ireland to combat ‘significantly elevated threat’ of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (Bird Flu) here.