Author: RaptorPersecutionUK

Sleeping gamekeeper fined over guns on table

A GAMEKEEPER who was found asleep in a chair in his kitchen with a shotgun and rifle lying on the kitchen table was fined £160 at Inverness Sheriff Court this week.

Martin MacKenzie has been suspended from his job and also faces losing his firearms licence.

Depute Fiscal Karen Smith said police had to attend the house at Mains of Aberarder and found Mackenzie asleep at the kitchen table.

The rifle and shotgun were lying on the table, she told Sheriff Ian Abercrombie.

Mackenzie (36) of Craggan Valley, Kiltarlity, admitted on May 18 last year failing to comply with conditions of his firearms certificate that he failed to keep the guns in a secure designated place.

Craig Wood, solicitor, said Mackenzie was married with two children, and had been a keeper at Arberarder for 10 years. “Since this incident he has been suspended by his employers.”

Mr Wood added that a letter had been received from the Chief Constable asking for Mackenzie’s certificate to be revoked, but this was the subject of an appeal.

“He had been using his guns and intended to clean them,” said Mr Wood. “He took several phone calls and when the police attended he accepts he should have dealt with it more expeditiously. He is a perfectly reasonable human being.”

So, it appears that Northern Constabulary consider falling asleep in your home in charge of unsecured firearms an offence serious enough to revoke a certificate. No complaints here and well done to the newly-appointed Chief Constable of Northern Constabulary, Mr George Graham. It follows then surely that the Moy and Skibo gamekeepers, convicted last week, should also have their firearms certificates revoked given the seriousness of their crimes? If you measure seriousness in terms of the court’s punishment, then both James Rolfe (Moy Estate) and Dean Barr (Skibo Estate) committed crimes far more serious than the one committed by Martin MacKenzie at Aberarder:

Rolfe = £1500 fine; Barr = £3300 fine; MacKenzie = £160 fine.

I also wonder whether MacKenzie is a member of the SGA, and if so, whether he faces sanctions in light of his firearms conviction? Incidentally, there’s still no public statement of condemnation from the SGA over last week’s convictions of the Moy & Skibo keepers. They also haven’t said whether Rolfe or Barr are SGA members and if so, whether their SGA membership has been terminated after their criminal convictions. Hopefully the SGA’s bed-fellows at PAW Scotland will be asking these questions.

Many thanks to the contributor who brought this article to our attention.

Highland News

Peregrine falcon found with shotgun injuries in Grampian has to be destroyed

Grampian Police are appealing for information after a shot peregrine had to be destroyed. The badly injured falcon was discovered in woodlands at the Pass of Ballater in the Cairngorms National Park on 27 April by a dog walker. Tests showed the bird had been wounded by a shotgun, with the pellets causing a serious fracture to its right leg.

Force Wildlife Crime Officer Dave MacKinnon says ” I am appealing for anyone, particularly in the upper Deeside area, who may have information as to who is responsible for shooting this protected bird.  It is an absolute disgrace that anyone thinks they have justification for shooting a rare and specially protected bird.

There are a few known peregrine nest sites in the Ballater area.  These birds like to nest on cliffs hence the reason for them choosing to trying to live and breed in upper Deeside.  

This latest incident of raptor persecution in Grampian clearly indicates that some people are still prepared to break the law risking a custodial sentence, the reputation of their employers, their livelihoods and their right to possess firearms.”

This statement hints that the finger of suspicion might be pointing at someone who works in the shooting industry, perhaps on a shooting estate. The Pass of Ballatar runs through land owned by Invercauld Estate, according to a well-known geographical resource. However, this bird wasn’t neccessarily shot at the Pass of Ballater, it was just found injured there. It could have been shot somewhere else nearby – there are several other well-known shooting estates in this area close to Ballatar whose employees have also previously been convicted of wildlife crime.

Anyone with information should call Grampian Police on 0845 600 5700.

BBC news story here

More details here

Young red kite poisoned in Cumbria

Cumbria Police are investigating the posioning of a red kite – the third kite to be killed in the region since a re-introduction project began last August.

The first dead kite from the project was shot dead in Dentdale in September 2010. The second dead kite had been killed by a shotgun wound in the Grizedale area, found under its roost tree on April 20 2011. The latest reported dead kite was discovered in January 2011 near Esthwaite Water, Hawkshead. Toxicology results have now confirmed this bird had been poisoned.

News story here

“Professional gamekeepers do not poison raptors” says Alex Hogg

Episode 11 of the BBC 2 Scotland ‘Landward’ programme went out on Friday 27 May and included a segment on the new vicarious liability regulation in the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011. The programme is available here for a limited period.

The segment opened with Duncan Orr-Ewing, Head of Species at RSPB Scotland, who told the interviewer, “Bird of prey poisoning is particularly associated with driven grouse moors in the upland of Scotland, in the central and eastern highlands, parts of Perthshire and also down in the southern uplands”.

The interviewer, Dougie Vipond, asked: “So who is doing this? Who is killing the birds?”

Orr-Ewing: “Well, it is estate employees, gamekeepers who are usually involved, but they are only employees, they are acting under the direct instructions so ultimately it is the landowners that are responsible for this”.

A short section followed with a brief interview with Liz Plath, listed as a rural law specialist and a partner at Thorntons Law LLP. Basically she explained in simple terms how vicarious liability brings the landowner or the employer into the frame in cases of raptor poisoning.

Next up was Alex Hogg, chairman of the SGA, whose opening line was: “Professional gamekeepers do not poison raptors”. Funny that, because if you bother to look back at the statistics on raptor poisoning for the ten-year period that Hogg has been in post, you’ll see that raptor poisoning incidents have been recorded on many estates, and yes, ‘professional’ gamekeepers have been convicted.

He then contradicted himself (and not for the first time) by saying: “It’s only a small minority that are still at it. A rogue few if you like”.  Lest we forget, here is the official government map showing confirmed raptor poisoning incidents between 2006-2010. Widespread, I’m sure you’ll agree, and the trend is pointing upwards.

He continued: “And we’ve tried our hardest over the past, I’ve now been in this job for ten years, to impress on everybody that it’s absolutely illegal to poison raptors”. Peer pressure from Hogg and co., while welcome, has been ineffective. It can’t help the situation when he and others from his industry continue to claim that raptors are having a significantly negative effect on game birds, songbirds, waders and lambs. Is there any scientific evidence for this? No, not a shred.

Next up came David Hendry, listed as the proprietor of Cardney Estate, near Dunkeld in Perthshire. Now this was an interesting interview. The piece opened with an introduction to Hendry, and video footage of a diving osprey on his estate. We were told that this estate ‘is home to many endangered birds of prey’. Unfortunately, Hendry was not asked how many and what species of raptors made their home there. The osprey was implied, but of course the osprey only eats fish, not exotic red-legged partridge (also known as French partridge) or pheasant, which are reared and released in large numbers for sport shooting on this estate, according to this shooting directory.

Vipond talked about the belief that the only way to stop poisoning is to introduce a licensing system which would allow landowners to control [kill] raptors. Hendry agreed, and suggested “it should become the gamekeeper’s job for instance to look after the rare raptors like harriers, your merlins, bring on your red kites, but they should also be allowed to reduce buzzards and sparrowhawks to numbers that are sustainable, because what we have today is not sustainable”.

Ok, so this is the first time we’ve officially heard that sparrowhawks are also the landowners’ intended target for licensed killing. Until now, the list has ‘just’ included buzzards and ravens. So what happens if they get the go ahead to kill these species? Will we see goshawks added to the next list? They’re just an over-sized sparrowhawk after all, so why not? And golden eagles? They’re just over-sized buzzards, so why not? Where will it stop?

It’s also very interesting that he thinks the current number of buzzards and sparrowhawks is ‘unsustainable’. According to this shooting website, Cardney Estate offers shooting days where between 200-400 exotic birds (partridge/pheasant) can be shot. That’s 200-400 birds per shooting day, depending on the time in the season. In September 2010, a record 677 birds were shot on one day according to one participant! Sounds to me like this sporting estate is doing very nicely thank you, without the need to kill off any indigenous protected raptors, whatever species they may be.

We then went back to Orr-Ewing, who was asked for his opinion about the need to ‘manage’ [kill] protected raptors. “These birds of prey are rightly protected because they’re vulnerable. We have a history of killing birds of prey in Scotland, many species are just recovering from that situation, there’s no other country in Europe that [legally] kills birds of prey”.

His first three points are accurate, but his last statement is not. In 2008 the provincial government of Lower Austria issued a decree allowing hunters to shoot 1,000 buzzards and 250 goshawks over the following five years. It previously allowed the killing of Montagu’s harriers until the EC stepped in to halt it. The decree allowing the legal persecution of buzzards and goshawks resulted in an international public outcry – the same can be expected if the licensed killing of raptors for the benefit of the game bird-shooting industry is permitted in Scotland.

And of course, it’s not just poison that is used to illegally kill raptors. Unfortunately our government does not produce annual statistics on the other incidences of raptor persecution that take place every single year. Thankfully, the RSPB does. Their annual reports (one covering bird persecution in the UK as a whole, and the other covering incidents in Scotland) are a welcome insight into the extent of the problem. Their 2010 annual reports are due for publication in the very near future. Their efforts to compile and publish these reports are worthy of the public’s gratitude because without them, we would only have Alex Hogg and co’s word about the extent of illegal raptor killing on Scotland’s sporting estates.

More on the Moy case

According to an article published in The Scotsman (view here), a post mortem carried out on the dead red kite discovered in the vehicle used by gamekeeper James Rolfe on Moy Estate last June, revealed it had broken legs and had died as a result of a blow to the head. Rolfe was convicted for being in possession of the dead kite. Why weren’t charges brought against anyone for the unlawful killing of this bird?

In the same article, it is reported that over a five-week period, the remains of a further two dead red kites, six illegal baited spring traps, a trapped hen harrier, and a poison bait laced with a banned agricultural pesticide (poison) were also recovered from the estate. No arrests or charges have been made in connection with these incidents.

Why not?

In an article in Birdwatch Magazine, further gruesome details are revealed about the discovery of a severed red kite leg and wing tags belonging to a red kite that was being followed by satellite tracking, all hidden in holes covered by moss. The article also reports that four golden eagle leg rings were discovered in Rolfe’s possession. No arrests or charges have been made in connection with these incidents.

Why not?

You may wish to ask the following people:

Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service: pn_copfs@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Northern Constabulary Force Wildlife Crime Co-ordinator, Chief Inspector Matthew Reiss: matthew.reiss@northern.pnn.police.uk

Environment Minister for Scotland, Stewart Stevenson MSP: msp@stewartstevenson.net

Moy Estate results

Today at Inverness Sheriff Court, gamekeeper James Roderick Rolfe, 20, was convicted of being in possession of a dead red kite which was found in his vehicle during a police raid on the Moy Estate in June last year. Rolfe said he had found the kite caught in a trap set for stoats. It had not been poisoned. Rolfe was fined £1,500 for possession of the dead bird.

The images here show the dead kite in the back of his vehicle. No explanation has been given to account for the obvious injury this bird suffered to its head area. According to the Inverness Courier, Rolfe claimed the bird was already dead when he found it.

Another gamekeeper working on Moy Estate was accused of being in possession of 56 gull eggs. The court accepted his plea of not guilty.

Northern Constabulary press statement

Inverness Courier news report

Skibo Estate results

Dean Barr, a gamekeeper (and reported elsewhere as being the sporting manager) on the Skibo Castle Estate, has been convicted of having enough illegal poison “to wipe out the entire Scottish golden eagle and red kite populations several times over”. Barr, 44, of East Lodge, Clashmore, Dornoch, admitted possessing 10kg of the banned pesticide Carbofuran. He admitted carrying the poison from his previous job as head gamekeeper on the Raeshaw Estate to Skibo Castle Estate in 2008, because he had ‘not known how to safely dispose of it’.

The Carbofuran haul was discovered in a locked store on the Skibo Castle Estate, for which Barr had the keys. According to the Northern Times and Northern Constabulary, the poison was discovered within premises operated and solely accessed by Barr on Skibo Estate land.

Today he was fined £3,300 “to mark the court’s disapproval”. This was apparently reduced from a £5,000 fine for his early plea.

Despite this conviction, the Crown accepted he had ‘no part’ in the deaths of two poisoned golden eagles and a sparrowhawk (killed with Carbofuran) found on the estate in May 2010 (along with a dead buzzard and a third poisoned golden eagle killed by Aldicarb).

Barr’s defence lawyer said Barr was well regarded personally and professionally by his current and previous employers. “If it was thought that he was involved in the use of this material, they would not be so supportive”.

This is not the last we will write on this case.

The Scotsman news story

BBC news story

STV news story

New Environment Minister in town

Stewart Stevenson MSP is the newly appointed Environment Minister, replacing Roseanna Cunningham MSP. The newly re-elected MSP for Banffshire & Buchan Coast made the following comment about his new role:

“I am delighted to be part of the Rural Affairs team in the new Scottish Government. As an early priority we shall be working closely with UK Ministers in particular to ensure that Scottish interests are properly represented in the European Union. Where we have the powers, we shall seek to work with rural, marine and environmental stakeholders to ensure that we understand and respond to their needs and concerns. For me personally, this is a superb opportunity to work in Government on a range of issues in which I have personal interest. I look forward to working with First Minister Alex Salmond and Cabinet Secretary Richard Lochhead and the rest of our strong team.”

Stewart is no stranger to the raptor persecution issue. In 2003, he was part of a panel listening to a petition put forward by the SGA for licences to kill raptors (yes, here we go again). We have covered this discussion in the past, but we’re re-posting the minutes here because they’re so entertaining they’re worth a second read. Especially the parts where Bert Burnett and Alex Hogg of the SGA have their ‘evidence’ of the ‘raptor problem’ shredded in seconds. Stewart Stevenson MSP is active throughout the discussion, both with the SGA and later with representatives from SNH.

In due course, we look forward to hearing Stewart’s views on how this Scottish government intends to deal with the on-going criminal persecution of Scotland’s raptors, given that the measures introduced by previous governments are clearly no deterrent.

Stewart Stevenson MSP webpage

Another poisoned buzzard discovered nr Grantown-on-Spey

When will this end? Yet another poisoned buzzard has been discovered in Scotland, and has tested positive for the banned pesticides Carbofuran and Aldicarb, according to government scientists at SASA.

Northern Constabulary have put out a carefully-worded press statement, saying the poisoned bird was retreived ‘from hill ground near Bridge of Brown”, which is on the A939 road between Grantown on Spey and Tomintoul, inside the Cairngorms National Park. They do not say when the buzzard was discovered, nor who owns the land where it was discovered. The culture of secrecy surrounding criminal raptor persecution continues.

You will not be surprised to learn that there is a prominent sporting estate that covers ‘hill ground near the Bridge of Brown’, although of course, their proximity to the incident does not imply they are responsible for this incident – no, no, no, its obviously an unhappy geographical coincidence. Northern Constabulary are investigating so no doubt the real criminals will soon be uncovered and brought to justice.

Thank goodness our government took such a tough line against the raptor persecutors during the last parliamentary session, eh? Otherwise we’d be seeing more of these incidents on a regular basis….

Northern Constabulary press statement: http://www.northern.police.uk/News-and-Media/news-item.htm?item_id=PR3316_2011

BBC news: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-13544977

Reward offered for info on missing osprey

Members of the public have put up a £1,000 reward for information about a missing osprey, feared shot. The bird, known as Osprey 08, has been missing since 11 May 2011 in an area where two other ospreys have gone ‘missing’ since April 2010. Conservationists at the Rutland Water Osprey Project have been feeding fish to 08’s partner as she incubates eggs. She is reported to have now abandoned her nest, and the Project Team are hoping to save her eggs by moving them to another active nest.

If anyone has any information about the missing osprey, please call Leicester Police on: 0116 222 2222 or call the Osprey Project Team on: 01572 737378.

Osprey Project Team’s blog: http://www.ospreys.org.uk/category/osprey-team-blog/

BBC news story about the reward: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-leicestershire-13526489