A golden eagle found dead by a hillwalker in June 2006 had been poisoned with Carbofuran. The bird was found on the Dinnet & Kinord Estate near Ballater, Aberdeenshire. No arrests have been made. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/5086162.stm
The eagle, in adult plumage, was likely to have been part of a breeding pair. The region holds approximately 18 pairs of breeding golden eagles, although if persecution wasn’t so high here, there is suitable habitat to support at least twice that number.
During July 2005 a dead golden eagle was discovered by a hillwalker on top of a hill in Morsgail on the Isle of Lewis.
The poisoned eagle at Morsgail, Isle of Lewis
Analysis showed that it had been poisoned with the banned pesticide carbofuran. Carbofuran is one of eight compounds listed on the Possession of Pesticides (Scotland) Order 2005. Anyone in possession of these poisons commits an offence under section 15 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
Staff from Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department (SEERAD), and Northern Constabulary police officers conducted searches on four premises on the island. No arrests have been made but enquiries are continuing.
A gamekeeper was convicted of shooting a short-eared owl on a Lanarkshire grouse moor in May 2004.
The 23 year old gamekeeper (name removed under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974) who works for a shoot on Abington Farms Estate (often known as the Leadhills Estate), appeared at Lanark Sheriff Court on 31 July 2005. Two local bird of prey workers told the court how they had seen a short-eared owl fly up from the heather as the keeper drove across the moor on a quad bike. They saw the keeper stop the bike, take out his shotgun and walk towards the spot where the owl had settled on the hillside. When it flew up, he fired three shots at it and it fell to the ground. He collected the spent shotgun cartridges, but failed to find the owl.
After a search of the heather, the two witnesses found the bird, still alive but badly injured. It died a few minutes afterwards. They had recognized the keeper, and used a mobile phone to call Police Wildlife Crime Officer Phil Briggs. Within minutes the Strathclyde Police helicopter was searching the moor, but no one could be found. The keeper was later detained at his home, where clothing was recovered matching the description provided by the witnesses.
The keeper was convicted of killing a short-eared owl under section 1(1)(a)of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, and fined £500. It was his first conviction.
He remained employed on the estate. The area has a long history of confirmed and alleged cases of bird of prey poisoning and persecution.
Short-eared owls nest on the ground and feed almost exclusively on small mammals such as voles. They pose no threat to game birds.
In August 2006, a police raid on Blythe Farm, near Lauder in the Scottish Borders, led to the discovery of pheasant baits laced with poison (carbofuran) as well as several illegal cage traps baited with live pigeons to lure in birds of prey.
In April 2007, gamekeeper George “Doddie” Aitken was found guilty at Selkirk Sheriff Court. Sheriff Kevin Drummond sentenced him to 220 hours community service. A gamekeeper for 20 years, Aitken, who had turned up to court wearing a black balaclava, was allowed to keep his job. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/south_of_scotland/6719505.stm
In January 2008, the owner of Blythe Farm, James McDougal, became the first landowner to be punished for the crimes committed by his gamekeeper. His agricultural subsidies were cut by £7,919 for his failure to protect wildlife. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2008/jan/07/ruralaffairs.scotland
Although the main focus of this blog is raptor persecution in Scotland, we will also be documenting incidents in other parts of the UK.
In early March 2010, a young goshawk was killed in Bransdale, North Yorkshire. An x-ray revealed the bird had been shot. A police investigation is underway.
According to a 2009 report by the RSPB, North Yorkshire has the worst record for raptor persecution incidents in England.
An adult female golden eagle and her chick were found dead on the nest in Kingussie, Strathspey in August 1999. Post mortem results revealed they had been posioned by Carbofuran.
In October and December 1998, a dead golden eagle and a buzzard were found on the Glenalmond Estate in Perthshire. The carcass of a red grouse was found close by, and tests later showed it had been used as a poisoned bait. The golden eagle had been killed by ingesting the illegal pesticide, Yaltox.
In Perth Sheriff Court in December 2000, a local gamekeeper was acquitted of all charges. He was also acquitted of further charges related to laying poisoned baits for either a peregrine or a golden eagle.
The dead sea eagle lies slumped over the posioned lamb bait
A dead white-tailed sea eagle was found slumped over a lamb carcass on Turnalt Farm, Kilmelford, Argyll, in May 2002. Tests showed it had been posioned with chloralose. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/scotland/1971648.stm
In May 2007, Police appealed for information after a buzzard was shot dead in Aberdeenshire.
The bird was recovered in woodland near St Cyrus, and an X-ray showed four shotgun pellets in its body.
Grampian Police believe it may have been shot several months earlier, and said various lines of inquiry were being pursued.
Buzzards are protected under law and offenders can be jailed for up to six months or fined up to £5,000.
Grampian Police Wildlife Crime Officer Pc Dave MacKinnon said: “I am appealing to anyone who may have information about this incident or the illegal killing of protected species to come forward with their information.”
After several poisoning incidents in the Glenfarg area of Perthshire over a number of years, a buzzard poisoned by carbofuran was found on the Balmanno Estate in November 2001.
Tayside Police, the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department and the RSPB searched the shooting estate, as well as the premises of the gamekeeper, on 15 March 2002, under powers of the Food and Environment Act. On the estate, they found a freshly dead crow, which was later found to contain carbofuran. At the keeper’s premises they found a small quantity of carbofuran, a small egg collection and several gin traps with pieces of fur on the jaws. The keeper was detained and admitted that he had used the gin traps to take fox cubs. Admissions were also made in relation to the buzzard’s egg.
A poisoned buzzard
After many hearings, stretching back to an original trial date of 19 November 2002, the keeper changed his pleas to guilty. On 12 November 2003, at Perth Sheriff Court, he pleaded guilty to charges of possession of carbofuran in an unlabelled container, possession of several gin traps for use against foxes and possession of one buzzard egg.
The Procurator Fiscal accepted a ‘not guilty’ plea to poisoning a crow with carbofuran. The keeper was fined £250.
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In Scotland, gin traps were only banned for use against foxes in 1974; in England and Wales, they were banned in 1958.
