The following article was published in The Courier yesterday:
A twisted Angus shooting enthusiast planted poisoned pheasants at an estate he wanted to frame for crimes against birds of prey.
Clive Burgoyne sought revenge against bosses at The Guynd near Carmyllie when they revoked his family’s right to shoot there.
The spiteful 38-year-old and his late father Antony returned to the Angus estate in early 2023 where dad-of-three Burgoyne planted four gamebird carcases laced with rodenticide.
Forfar Sheriff Court heard that estates can be docked grants and suffer from bad publicity if their workers are convicted of offences towards raptors.
A veterinary pathologist who studied the toxic bait concluded that none had been feasted on by any birds.
Feud
Prosecutor Karon Rollo said landowner Elliot Ouchterlony had been in dispute with the Burgoyne family and had told them to keep off his land.
On the morning of February 3 in 2023, the family set out for revenge.
At 10.45am, a farmer at Milton Farm noticed a car with two or three people inside heading towards Dusty Drum Farm.
About 10 minutes later, another worker saw a man near Guynd Lodge “behaving shiftily” and trying to hide his face.
Half an hour after the vehicle was first spotted, the estate manager noticed it on the B9127, parked at the side of a field.
He spotted the late Antony Burgoyne in the driver’s seat.
Early in the afternoon, the manger messaged Burgoyne to say his party had been seen, but it wasn’t until 40 minutes after that that the offender’s handiwork was discovered.
Revenge served blue
Another estate worker stumbled upon a dead pheasant with its breast cut open, covered with seed, grain and a bright blue liquid.
He photographed this and posted it on an online agricultural workers forum.
The estate manager arrived ten minutes later and photographed then bagged up the bird, following police advice.
Three other identical poisoned pheasants were discovered 30 feet away.
Ms Rollo said: “The witnesses believed the blue liquid to be a type of toxin, to have been on the dead pheasants as bait in attempt to poison wildlife in the area, particularly raptors.”
All were sent to the Scottish Government Agency SASA (Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture) for examination.
The blue substance was found to be an anticoagulant rodenticide with active ingredient difenacoum.
Ms Rollo added: “It is toxic to birds and if consumed causes haemorrhaging.
“A single feed from a carcase would have proved fatal to a raptor.”
A veterinary pathologist confirmed that thankfully the laced bait hadn’t been fed on.
Motive
Ms Rollo added: “Birds of prey can be regarded as problematic on estates as they can kill smaller animals.
“There are well-documented examples of them being poisoned by estate workers to combat this.
“Estates can receive government grants which, on conviction for such offences, can result in withdrawal and adverse publicity for the estates.”
She said the crown believed this was the accused’s bid to “discredit” the estate.
Didn’t operate alone
Clive Burgoyne’s DNA was found on the legs of all four pheasants.
He told police: “I don’t use none of that,” then gave a mostly no comment interview.
Burgoyne admitted that between 30 January and 3 February 2023, he set out a poisonous, poisoned or stupefying substance, specifically pheasant carcase birds covered with a rodenticide formulation, at the pond area at Home Farm, Guynd, Carmyllie.
He admitted these carcases could be likely to cause injury to any wild birds coming into contact with the contaminated pheasants he’d laid out in open for consumption by other birds.
Burgoyne’s father Antony was also been charged with the same offence, but died after the case first called in court.
Solicitor Billy Rennie said: “He accepts what the crown have narrated in terms of a long-standing feud because of prior rights in this area.
“His father was the co-accused but sadly passed away earlier this year.
“He wasn’t working alone.
“At the minute, he’s off work due to mental health issues.
“He accepts the reference that this was done in a way to cause problems for the estate. That’s the acceptance.”
First offender Burgoyne, of Caledonian Way, Forfar, will be sentenced on June 5 once reports have been prepared.
ENDS
Oh god, the irony! Many within the game-shooting industry have long made unsubstantiated allegations that conservationists and animal rights activists have ‘planted evidence’ of poisoned baits in order to frame estates for alleged raptor persecution but as far as I’m aware, none have ever been proven. Now that a case has been proven, it turns out it was a spurned shooter who decided to try and get revenge after the estate had revoked his shooting rights. You couldn’t make it up!
Great work by the forensics team to detect Burgoyne’s DNA on the pheasant legs – not dissimilar to the case in Suffolk in 2023 where gamekeeper Francis Addison’s DNA was found on the legs of five dead goshawks that had been shot and then dumped in a car park at Kings Forest (see here).
UPDATE 6 June 2025: Burgoyne sentenced here.
Raptor Persecution UK 