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Poisoned sea eagle: strong response from Scottish Greens

In sharp contrast to the pathetically inadequate Scottish Government’s response (see here) to the news that a poisoned sea eagle has been found on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park, the Scottish Greens’ response is spot on:

POISONING OF WHITE-TAILED EAGLE REVEALS NEED FOR REFORM

The revelation that a White-Tailed eagle found dead in the Cairngorms is found to have been poisoned shows the Scottish Government must go further to tackle wildlife crime around grouse moors, Scottish Green MSP Mark Ruskell has said.

Police Scotland have confirmed the satellite tracked bird had been poisoned with pesticide as they investigate the crime.

[A police officer retrieving the poisoned corpse from a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park. Photo by Police Scotland]

Greens environment spokesperson Mark Ruskell is the species champion for the White-Tailed eagle, also known as the sea eagle, of which there are only around 150 breeding pairs in Scotland.

“This is a very serious crime against a species reintroduced into Scotland 40 years ago after it became extinct. Sadly, this is only the latest in a long list of raptors found near Scotland’s grouse moors and I’m afraid recent tweaks to wildlife crime maximum sentences fail to address the central problem around detection and prosecution of these crimes.

There needs to be real action to address this war against wildlife. Land managers need to get a grip of this, but we’ve seen from the reaction to the Scottish Greens win on protection for mountain hares that the driven grouse shooting industry is resistant to even the mildest of reforms.

It’s time for the Scottish Government to ignore vested interests and respond to the Werrity review with a commitment to shut grouse moors down. The stark reality is Scotland is monumentally failing to meet its obligations in the middle of a global nature emergency.”

ENDS

Thank you to all of you who have written to the First Minister (Nicola Sturgeon) and Environment Cabinet Secretary (Roseanna Cunningham) expressing your disgust and urging immediate action. It is clear that their inboxes have been deluged. Good, they need to be.

Here are their email addresses for those who would still like to comment:

To email Nicola Sturgeon, please use this address: firstminister@gov.scot

To email Roseanna Cunningham, please use this address: CabSecECCLR@gov.scot

Thank you.

Poisoned sea eagle: inadequate response from Scottish Government

Further to Monday’s appalling news that a young white-tailed eagle has been found illegally poisoned on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park (see here and here), the Scottish Government has responded.

Of sorts.

The official twitter channel of the Scottish Government, covering the environment and rural economy (@GreenerScotland) posted this at four minutes to five yesterday afternoon:

If the Scottish Government thinks that is an adequate response it’d better think again.

Superficially, it looks good, as is undoubtedly intended. A photo of a serious-looking Environment Minister and a statement expressing disgust and anger, ending with what looks to be a zero-tolerance policy for those who commit these atrocious crimes.

Job done. That’ll calm the baying public and stem the tsunami of angry emails heading for the First Minister’s inbox, right?

Sorry, but no, it won’t. Whichever civil servant put this together has not only seriously misjudged the mood but has also underestimated the public’s depth of anger about the illegal poisoning of this young eagle. Fobbing us off with a trite statement about custodial sentences for the guilty just isn’t going to cut it.

Why not? Well because we all know, that even though an increase in custodial sentences for wildlife crime is widely welcomed and long overdue, that no matter what the sentence, the chances of the culprit actually being caught is still disproportionately minuscule in comparison to the weight of the sentence.

In fact, there has never been a successful prosecution for the illegal killing of an eagle in Scotland. Ever. Even though scores of them have been found illegally shot, poisoned or trapped over the years, and scores more have ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances (confirmed by a Government-commissioned report), not one single eagle-killer has ever been held to account.

Not one.

Why not? Because the evidence required to convict is almost impossible to attain. For example, ten years ago three golden eagles were found dead on a prestigious grouse-shooting estate in Sutherland. They were found within days of each other and all three had been poisoned with banned chemicals. The police raided the estate and found a stash of 10kg of Carbofuran (a banned pesticide) inside a locked shed. This was the biggest cache of carbofuran ever found in the UK and was described as being ‘enough to wipe out the entire Scottish golden eagle and red kite populations several times over’. They also found poisoned baits laid out on the hill. At least one of those eagles died with the poisoned bait still in its beak – that’s how potent and fast-acting some of these poisons can be.

An estate employee was charged and the case went to court. However, he was only convicted for having possession of the banned poison. He wasn’t even charged with poisoning those eagles simply because there was insufficient evidence to demonstrate that he had laid the bait that killed those eagles.

So when the Scottish Government tells us that the maximum sentence for poisoning an eagle has been increased to a five-year custodial sentence, in this context it’s totally meaningless because the poisoner will evade ever being brought to justice.

Now that’s not to say the increased penalties for wildlife crime are a waste of time – they most definitely are not and are a very welcome addition, but increased penalties alone just aren’t going to save the day here. The Scottish Government cannot continue to ignore the massive elephant in the room. That is, that the majority of these crimes against birds of prey are linked to the ‘sport’ of driven grouse shooting.

We know it, and the Scottish Government knows it.

This latest response from the Scottish Government bares strong similarities to a statement made last month about its intention to establish a ‘wildlife crime task force’ to assess whether increased powers for the SSPCA would be worthwhile (see here). What was (deliberately) missed out was the fact that the government had already spent the previous nine years cogitating this very issue! The announcement was even accompanied by the very same photograph of Minister Gougeon as used in yesterday’s announcement. The civil servants must think it adds gravitas.

Well, it doesn’t. And as we said last month, this is no reflection on the integrity and sincerity of Mairi Gougeon. Having met her several times and listened to her talk, there is absolutely no doubt that she finds these crimes as abhorrent as we all do. But she, and her fellow Cabinet Ministers and Secretaries, need to step up to the plate.

We don’t want banal memes or meaningless platitudes or pretence that this is all in hand. It isn’t and the image of that dead sea eagle should haunt every single member of the Scottish Government – they are allowing this depravity to continue.

Thank you to all of you who have written to the First Minister (Nicola Sturgeon) and Environment Cabinet Secretary (Roseanna Cunningham). It is clear that their inboxes have been deluged. Good, they need to be.

If you haven’t written yet, please consider doing so. Mark Avery has published his excellent letter (see here) for those wondering what to say.

Here are the email addresses of the relevant ministers:

To email Nicola Sturgeon, please use this address: firstminister@gov.scot

To email Roseanna Cunningham, please use this address: CabSecECCLR@gov.scot

Thank you.

UPDATE 29th July 2020: Poisoned sea eagle: strong response from Scottish Greens (here)

More on the poisoned sea eagle found dead on a grouse moor in Cairngorms National Park

It’s fair to say that there has been public uproar at the news that yet another eagle has been found illegally killed in Scotland, this time a young sea eagle, found poisoned on a grouse moor inside the Cairngorms National Park (see here). The police have not named the estate on which the poisoned corpse was found, nor the name of the banned pesticide used to kill this eagle.

Some of that public outrage has been from people who previously had no idea that such filthy, barbaric crimes are still taking place in the 21st Century, whilst others are infuriated that this keeps happening and yet time and time and time again the Scottish Government keeps dodging the opportunity to act.

To many of us, it’s no longer a shock to learn that an eagle has been found illegally killed on a grouse moor. And in this particular case, it’s certainly no surprise to learn of the location.

The Strathdon area of the Cairngorms National Park has long been recognised as a raptor persecution hotspot, as this map demonstrates. These are raptor persecution incidents, 2005-2018, including cases recorded by the RSPB, incidents featured in the golden eagle satellite tag review, and other data in the public domain. Geographic clusters are clear to see – in the Angus Glens to the SE of the National Park, in the Strathdon area in the NE (circled), and in the Monadhliaths to the NW of the National Park:

Those incidents in Strathdon include a poisoned raven (2006), a poisoned common gull (2006), multiple poisoned baits (2006), a shot buzzard (2009), a poisoned golden eagle (2011), a poisoned buzzard (2011), poisoned bait (2011), a shot short-eared owl (2011), two satellite-tagged golden eagles ‘disappearing’ (2011), another satellite-tagged golden eagle ‘disappearing’ (2013), a satellite-tagged white-tailed eagle ‘disappearing’ (2014), a goshawk nest shot out by masked men (2014), a shot goshawk (2016), another satellite-tagged golden eagle ‘disappearing’ (2017), a satellite-tagged hen harrier ‘disappearing’ (2018), another satellite-tagged hen harrier ‘disappearing’ (2019), and another satellite-tagged hen harrier ‘disappearing’ (2020).

It’s quite the persecution hotspot, isn’t it?

Nobody has been prosecuted in any of these cases.

If you want to see the full shocking list of reported raptor persecution incidents inside the Cairngorms National Park, the supposed ‘jewel in the crown’ of Scotland’s wildlife areas, see here. Take note again of the lack of prosecutions.

Strathdon was also identified as a golden eagle persecution hotspot in the 2017 Government-commissioned report on the fates of satellite-tracked golden eagles in Scotland. You can read that report here.

With the illegal poisoning of this latest white-tailed eagle we now know that seven eagles have either been illegally killed or have vanished in suspicious circumstances in this area (4 x ‘missing’ golden eagles, 1 x ‘missing white-tailed eagle, 1 x poisoned golden eagle, 1 x poisoned white-tailed eagle), as well as three satellite-tagged hen harriers that have vanished in suspicious circumstances since the golden eagle report was published.

Many new blog readers have been surprised to learn that not only have there been zero prosecutions for raptor crime dating back for years in this part of the National Park, but that managing grouse moors for shooting is not a licensed activity. Comments from newcomers on social media immediately call for ‘licences to be revoked’ because they assume that a relatively progressive country like Scotland will have all this stuff regulated and under control. It’s been a shock for them to find out that in parts of Scotland it’s the armed criminals in control, brazenly and repeatedly sticking up two fingers to the law-makers and the rest of society.

Newcomers also ask why there hasn’t been any targeted action in these known persecution hotspots? It’s not like nobody knows what’s been going on there! It’s a good question – what is the point of all this mapping and recording and reporting if the bleedin’ obvious is still allowed to continue, uninhibited, unrestricted and unpunished?

The Scottish Government did implement a farcical trial scheme of having a bunch of part-time volunteer special constables deployed in the National Park in 2018, to focus on tackling wildlife crime. Despite the undoubted good intentions of those volunteers, the scheme was a predictable waste of time and money (see here) and simply a can-kicking exercise so the Government could pretend it was doing something tangible to tackle these crimes.

And so here we are again. Yet another victim, on yet another grouse moor, in yet another National Park.

And yet again, the Scottish Government has remained silent.

It’s important that we don’t.

If you haven’t already done so, please consider sending an email to the First Minister (Nicola Sturgeon) and her Environment Cabinet Secretary (Roseanna Cunningham) to express your strength of feeling that this disgraceful criminality has been allowed to continue for far too long. The Government must be held to account for its inaction.

You don’t need to be resident in Scotland to email these politicians. In fact, the more correspondence from outside of Scotland, all the better to demonstrate the extent of the country’s embarrassing reputation. Please be polite.

To email Nicola Sturgeon, please use this address: firstminister@gov.scot

To email Roseanna Cunningham, please use this address: CabSecECCLR@gov.scot

It’s clear that many of you have already written to them. Thank you.

UPDATE 29 July 2020: Poisoned sea eagle: inadequate response from Scottish Government (here)

Poisoned sea eagle found on grouse moor in Cairngorms National Park: RSPB response

Further to today’s news that a young white-tailed eagle has been found illegally poisoned on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park (see here), the RSPB has responded.

Head of Investigations Ian Thomson has written a blog – see here – where he talks about the long history of raptor persecution on grouse moors in this part of the National Park as well as providing a few more details of this young eagle’s life before he was killed.

The RSPB has also published a video:

https://vimeo.com/442042197

There’s still much more to say about this latest crime….more soon.

In the meantime, if you’re as infuriated as we are, please consider emailing the First Minister (Nicola Sturgeon) and her Environment Cabinet Secretary (Roseanna Cunningham) to express your strength of feeling that this filthy criminality has been allowed to continue for far too long. The Scottish Government has known about it for years, they know where it goes on and know why it goes on, and yet still, here we are again.

You don’t need to be resident in Scotland to email these politicians. In fact, the more correspondence from outside of Scotland, all the better to demonstrate the extent of the country’s embarrassing reputation. Please be polite.

To email Nicola Sturgeon, please use this address: firstminister@gov.scot

To email Roseanna Cunningham, please use this address: CabSecECCLR@gov.scot

Thank you

Satellite-tagged white-tailed eagle found poisoned on grouse moor in Cairngorms National Park

A satellite-tagged white-tailed eagle has been found poisoned on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park.

This should be the tipping point. The Scottish Government simply cannot ignore this blatant criminality any longer. There are contact details at the foot of this blog if you want to write to the First Minister and her Environment Cabinet Secretary.

We’ll have much, much more to say about this latest crime but for now, here’s the press release just issued by Police Scotland:

RARE WHITE-TAILED SEA EAGLE POISONED

Police Scotland has today confirmed that a rare white-tailed sea eagle found dead earlier this year was poisoned.

The bird of prey was recovered from Donside, Aberdeenshire, in April. A post mortem has now established it died as a result of pesticide poisoning. It had been satellite tagged.

The death is being treated as suspicious. An investigation is ongoing and Police Scotland is appealing for information to help identify those responsible.

[A police officer examines the corpse of this illegally-poisoned sea eagle, found on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park]

White-tailed sea eagles were re-introduced into Scotland in the 1970s after becoming extinct in the UK in the early 1900s. There are now over 150 breeding pairs in Scotland. Police Inspector Sheila McDerment, who chairs the North East Partnership Against Wildlife Crime, said:

“As well as being illegal, poisoning is a cruel way to kill a bird. It also puts the lives of other creatures and plants at risk and impacts negatively on our environment.

This incident is particularly upsetting because these rare and beautiful birds had been re-introduced to Scotland after being extinct throughout the UK.

Raptor persecution is one of six priorities set by the UK National Wildlife Crime Unit. In the North East we work closely with a number of partners to tackle wildlife crime. Members of the public are our eyes and ears. I appeal to anyone out there who may hold any information about this incident to help us bring the offender to justice by coming forward and telling us what they know.”

Ian Thomson, RSPB Scotland’s Head of Investigations said: “The news that this bird has been illegally poisoned is appalling. This crime would never have come to light had the bird not been fitted with a satellite tag, and the killing of this young eagle can be added to a litany of raptor persecution incidents in recent years, including previous poisonings and multiple disappearances of similarly-tagged birds of prey. Poisoning is vicious and indiscriminate and we join with Police Scotland in appealing for information.”

Detective Chief Superintendent Gary Cunningham, Wildlife Crime lead for Police Scotland, said: “Scotland’s rich, rare and diverse wildlife and landscapes are among its biggest attractions. We cannot allow the indiscriminate use of poisons and pesticides to threaten our natural heritage. Police Scotland, working with our key partners, is committed to protecting our wildlife habitats and to bringing those who seek to destroy or harm it, to justice.”

Please contact Police Scotland on 101 if you have information about this crime, quoting crime reference number CF0160960720. You can also report information anonymously by contacting Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

ENDS

If you’d like the First Minister (Nicola Sturgeon) and her Environment Cabinet Secretary (Roseanna Cunningham) to know how angry this news makes you feel, please send POLITE but strongly-worded emails to:

firstminister@gov.scot

and

CabSecECCLR@gov.scot

UPDATE 27th July 2020: RSPB responds to news of poisoned eagle found on grouse moor in Cairngorms National Park (here)

UPDATE 28th July 2020: More on the poisoned sea eagle found dead on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park (here)

UPDATE 29th July 2020: Poisoned sea eagle: inadequate response from Scottish Government (here)

UPDATE 29th July 2020: Poisoned sea eagle: strong response from Scottish Greens (here)

UPDATE 29th July 2020: Poisoned sea eagle: Scottish Ministers under increasing pressure to act (here)

UPDATE 29th July 2020: Poisoned sea eagle: Chris Packham’s letter to Scottish Ministers (here)

UPDATE 30th July 2020: Poisoned sea eagle: poor response from Cairngorms National Park Authority (here)

UPDATE 31st July 2020: Cairngorms National Park, Scotland: where eagles are poisoned, trapped & shot (here)

UPDATE 12th August 2020: Former Sea Eagle Project Officer explains devastating personal impact of ongoing illegal persecution on grouse moors (here)

Scottish Raptor Study Group responds to hysteria over proposed grouse moor licensing

At the weekend The Scotsman published a letter from Tim (Kim) Baynes, Director of Scottish Land & Estates’ Moorland Group, which was basically an hysterical scaremongering piece about how grouse moor licensing would signal rural Armageddon (see here).

Today The Scotsman has published a letter of response from Logan Steele, Communications Secretary of the Scottish Raptor Study Group.

[Logan Steele from the Scottish Raptor Study Group at a parliamentary reception with Andy Wightman MSP. Photo by Ruth Tingay]

Logan’s letter is everything that Tim (Kim) Bayne’s letter is not (i.e. measured and factual):

Tim Bayne’s article, (25th July), contends that the licensing of grouse shooting is not justified and that ‘it would make it the most heavily regulated land use in the UK,’. This statement is laughable as it is in fact one of the least regulated and is why we are seeing issues such as the unregulated mass culling of mountain hares, the burning of heather over deep peat, the draining of moors and the widespread and systematic killing of birds of prey.

As justification he quoted Prof Werritty’s report when instead he should have quoted from the report’s preface, “When, as Chair, I sought to exercise a casting vote in favour of the immediate introduction of licensing, this was contested by two members of the Group.”  One can only speculate as to whose interests they might have been championing and whether the five-year moratorium was simply a sop to the grouse industry to achieve a unanimous report.

Tim Baynes also stated that recorded raptor persecution is at an all-time low, this is based on the number of incidents discovered by chance which by its very nature will fluctuate from year to year. A more accurate measure is the continued absence of birds of prey on land managed primarily for grouse shooting.

He talks of licensing undermining the progress made with SNH and conservation charities, a statement which we absolutely refute as we too have been party to these discussions. It is precisely because of this lack of progress and the inability to self-regulate that has brought about the public clamour for licensing. 

If evidence was ever required just look at the incidents of birds of prey trapped, shot, and poisoned, the species which figure most prominently are eagles and hen harriers.

Logan Steele, Communications Secretary, Scottish Raptor Study Group

 

More birds of prey illegally killed in & around Peak District National Park

As conservationists continue to express concern for the safety of the visiting Bearded Vulture in the Peak District National Park (e.g. see here), the RSPB has published a blog detailing more cases of confirmed and suspected illegal raptor persecution that have been recorded in the area since the beginning of lockdown.

[This shot buzzard had to be euthanized due to the extent of its injuries. Photo by Peak District Raptor Monitoring Group]

The RSPB’s updated list includes the following, some of which have already featured on this blog and some which haven’t previously been publicised:

NEW: In the north of the National Park, the remains of a short-eared owl, an amber-listed species, were found on a grouse moor near Glossop on 7 May. A post-mortem recently concluded that shooting had been the cause of death. No leads were forthcoming from police enquiries.

NEW: Near Agden Reservoir, an area dominated by driven grouse moors, four raven chicks were found dead in a nest also on 11 May. The parent birds had been seen bringing food to the young, then vanished without explanation. The chicks were almost at the point of fledging, and the RSPB say the adults were exceptionally unlikely abandon the nest at that stage. The incident is being investigated by South Yorkshire Police.

NEW: Test results are awaited in connection with an adult peregrine found dead in the Upper Derwent Valley.

NEW: In the south, just outside the National Park an eyewitness reported seeing two buzzards being shot near Ashbourne on 1 April 2020. A member of the public was watching the two birds circling a wood, on land managed for pheasant shooting, when he heard a shot and saw the birds fall. There’s no comment about a police investigation.

PREVIOUSLY REPORTED: On 11 May, a buzzard was found mortally wounded on land managed for gamebird shooting near Diggle. It was found alive but with terrible injuries and sadly had to be euthanized. An x-ray revealed six pieces of shot lodged in the bird’s body. [This crime has previously been blogged about here]

PREVIOUSLY REPORTED: In the south of the Park, a buzzard and two peregrines are being tested for poison after being found dead in Staffordshire. [These incidents have previously been blogged about here] [Confirmed illegally poisoned. See UPDATE at foot of this blog]

PREVIOUSLY REPORTED: In mid-June, Derbyshire Police issued an appeal for information after three peregrine nests were robbed of their eggs, all within the National Park. The RSPB alerted the police about one of the incidents. [These incidents have previously been blogged about here]

PREVIOUSLY REPORTED: A dead kestrel and a buzzard have also gone for poison testing: they were found near Glapwell, where several buzzards were found poisoned in 2016. [These incidents have previously been blogged about here] [Confirmed illegally poisoned. see UPDATE at foot of blog].

To read the RSPB blog in full please click here

The RSPB’s Head of Investigations, Mark Thomas, was also on BBC Radio Derby a few days ago talking about the ongoing killing of birds of prey in the Peak District National Park. Available here (starts 3hrs 16) for 24 days.

UPDATE 3rd August 2020: Buzzard and kestrel confirmed illegally poisoned in Derbyshire (here)

UPDATE 2nd October 2020: Birds of prey illegally poisoned in Staffordshire / Peak District National Park (see here)

“It’s time Scotland took on landed interests over animal protections” says Alison Johnstone MSP

Last month the Scottish Parliament voted overwhelmingly (see here) to provide full protected status for mountain hares, thus effectively ending the unregulated slaughter of ~26,000 hares on grouse moors every year.

However, hare-culling under licence will still be permitted under certain circumstances and the conflict over the protection of this species is far from over.

[Shot mountain hares strung up in a chilling larder, screen-grabbed from a controversial feature on Countryfile (2018) showing mountain hares being shot on a Scottish grouse moor]

In preparation for a more detailed blog in the run up to the opening of the hare-killing season this Saturday (1st August), have a read of this opinion piece written last month by Alison Johnstone MSP, whose amendment to the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections & Powers) (Scotland) Bill led to the [as yet to be implemented] increased protection for mountain hares.

This article is reproduced from The National (26 June 2020).

It’s time Scotland took on landed interests over animal protections

by Alison Johnstone MSP

THE response to mountain hares finally becoming a protected species in Scotland has been nothing less than astonishing.

After MSPs backed my amendment, thanks and congratulations came flooding in from across Scotland and around the world for winning vital protection for this iconic native species.

In parts of the Highlands, mountain hare populations have crashed since the 1950s, with an average of 26,000 killed every year, largely for fun and as part of mass killing on grouse moors. Last year their conservation status was downgraded to “unfavourable”.

Protecting these animals is the least we should do as a progressive country that values our wildlife and countryside, yet there has also been an astonishing response to this move from landed vested interests and the grouse shooting lobby, who have reacted with fury.

Gamekeepers claimed the vote in Parliament was “undemocratic” and threatened to set up their own political party, while the countryside alliance called into question my integrity, presumably because their only alternative is to defend the indefensible.

Preventing the slaughter of native wildlife in decline is perhaps the most basic act of conservation. Even under the highest level of wildlife protection available in Scotland, land managers could still apply for a licence to kill hares as a last resort, so the scale of response from the grouse shooting lobby is very revealing. It shows this is a community which is not used to being beaten. It demonstrates the power and influence they are used to having.

In December, the two-year review of Scotland’s grouse moors led by Professor Alan Werritty was published, but it brought absolutely nothing new to the table. It couldn’t even define what a grouse moor is, even though they cover around a fifth of Scotland’s land mass.

Incredibly, the Scottish Government has yet to respond to this watered-down review, which perhaps shows how unwilling the SNP is to take on this powerful lobby.

Last week, however, Scottish Government ministers came under incredible pressure after a Scottish Greens petition in support of hare protection garnered more than 25,000 signatures in just a few days. It was clear that public opinion does not align with the interests of those who enjoy shooting grouse on an industrial scale.

Although Parliament voted for an end to indiscriminate killing of mountain hares, the fight is not yet over. Shooting clubs have ominously warned our celebrations will be “short-lived”, and August will see the start of hare-killing season.

The RSPB and others have expressed concerns that these enthusiasts will use any delay in implementing the new restrictions to kill as many mountain hares as possible. There are already signs on social media that they are mobilising to do this.

They know this would be met with outrage, but this is a sector which has shown little interest for public concerns. The number of birds of prey which vanish around grouse moors is testament to that, which no doubt contributes to the lobby’s claim that mountain hares “thrive” on grouse moors. It is a circle of killing dressed up as conservation.

The fact muirburn continued into the pandemic lockdown and in dangerously dry conditions, despite the warnings of the fire service and Parliament backing my colleague Andy Wightman’s temporary ban, is another example of this industry’s disregard for wider community concerns and democratic process.

In accepting my amendment during the debate, natural environment minister Mairi Gougeon suggested the Scottish Government might delay implementation of this vital protection for mountain hares.

LIKE many, I’m really worried that this delay will only encourage an unprecedented killing spree by those who want one last hurrah. The ban must come in by August 1 and the Scottish Government need to issue a warning to these powerful vested interests that they must control themselves. They can’t always have their own way.

Grouse moors are left deliberately barren as a plaything for the very few. It’s ridiculous that so much of Scotland is taken up with this this mindlessly cruel Victorian hobby, when that land is needed to restore forests and peatland to tackle the climate emergency. Changing its use would also provide thousands of rural jobs at a time when unemployment is rising at an alarming rate.

Although mountain hare protection is a vital first step in tackling the problem of grouse moors, when we look back at last week’s animal and wildlife bill, it’s clear there is a long way to go for our Parliament to truly take on the powerful lobbyists who defend them.

For example, once again the SNP joined forces with the Conservatives to protect the rights of the shooting lobby to dock the tails of puppies. This practice involves cutting or crushing muscle, nerves and bones, without anaesthetic, in puppies under five days old. If done badly, it can cause the dog chronic pain throughout its life. Animal welfare experts are clear that there is no scientific basis for tail docking and the British Veterinary Association agree the practice should be banned in all circumstances except for treating an injury.

Our proposals to further protect badgers and beavers were also rejected. It’s time for Scotland to take on the powerful landed interests that hold back progress, for which animal protection is the front line.

ENDS

More hysterical scaremongering over proposed grouse moor licensing

Earlier this week Duncan Orr-Ewing, Head of Species and Land Management at RSPB Scotland, wrote an opinion piece for The Scotsman in which he argued that the licensing of Scottish grouse moors is needed now, not in five years’ time (see here).

[Intensively managed grouse moors in the Cairngorms National Park, photo by Ruth Tingay]

In response, Tim (Kim) Baynes, Director of Scottish Land & Estates’ Moorland Group has written an hysterical scaremongering piece in which he suggests that grouse moor licensing will threaten the rural economy in terms of investment and jobs. Here’s his letter:

Letters page, The Scotsman, 25 July 2020

Licensing grouse shooting would backfire

Don’t risk the rural economy, says a reader

Duncan Orr-Ewing’s article (Friends of the Scotsman, 22 July) is correct in stating that grouse shooting provides employment in rural areas.

Despite this and many other public benefits, the RSPB tries to make the case that driven grouse shooting in Scotland should be subject to licensing.

This would make it the most heavily regulated land use in the UK and would discourage ongoing investment, potentially losing jobs associated directly and indirectly with the sector and threatening many rural communities.

It was only seven months ago that Professor Alan Werritty and his panel, commissioned by the Scottish Government, delivered a very carefully considered report into driven grouse shooting, which concluded that licensing of grouse shooting was not justified at this stage.

A second research report on the value of driven grouse shooting to Scotland is due to be published by SRUC this year. It makes no sense to disregard the evidence and impose a licensing system now. Licensing is also unnecessary given that recorded raptor persecution is at an all-time low, with an increasing number of golden eagles, hen harriers, buzzards and other raptors nesting and breeding successfully on grouse moors.

There is an abundance of wildlife thriving on moorlands due to the careful conservation work carried out year-round by skilled land managers. Much of this work is already subject to agreed codes of practice.

No other sporting or land use sector is subject to state licensing and in one move the Scottish Government would undermine all the progress made in recent years through effective collaboration between landowners, Scottish Natural Heritage and conservation charities. If we want a diversity of species and habitats we must allow moorland managers to look after our upland areas for the benefit of all.

Tim Baynes, Director, Scottish Land & Estates, Moorland Group, Eskmills Business Park, Musselburgh

It’s not the first time we’ve heard histrionics about a proposed grouse moor licensing scheme (e.g. see here here and here for more of the same unfounded rhetoric) and it’s not the first time that Tim (Kim) has falsely claimed that raptor persecution “is at an all time low” – in fact the latest wildlife crime report published by the Scottish Government shows that raptor persecution crimes have more than doubled (see here).

Nor is it the first time we’ve heard the claim that any sort of enforced regulation will ‘threaten’ or ‘damage’ the rural economy.

When the Land Reform Bill was being debated the Scottish Landowners Federation (which later re-branded to call itself the Scottish Rural Property & Business Association (SRPBA) and then re-branded again to its current name of Scottish Land & Estates) warned that the legislation would do irreversible damage to rural economies and they threatened to block the legislation at the European Court of Human Rights (see here).

Scottish Land & Estates also bleated about further land reform measures when the Scottish Government proposed removing the two-decades-old exemption from business rates enjoyed by shooting estates. SLE claimed that, “We believe that there would be a negative impact on rural jobs, tourism and land management” (see here).

And then there was more bleating when the Scottish Government brought in vicarious liability to tackle the continued illegal persecution of birds of prey. David Johnstone, the now former Chair of Scottish Land & Estates claimed this would introduce another layer of bureaucracy “When the Government should be doing what it can to help landowners and the rural economy” (see here).

The bottom line is, no other sporting or land use sector has been responsible for the appalling toll on wildlife, and especially on so-called protected birds of prey, and despite years of repeated warnings and hundreds of second chances (e.g. see here), the grouse shooting industry continues to deny responsibility and continues to do as it pleases.

Sure, there are some members of the industry who aren’t ‘at it’ and would have nothing to fear from a licensing scheme if their businesses are lawful and environmentally sustainable, as many claim to be. However, if the Scottish Government does decide to implement a licensing scheme, the grouse shooting industry should be thanking its lucky stars that that’s all it’s getting. The case for banning driven grouse shooting has been made clear and if/when licensing is proved to be ineffective, then the industry need only look to its own embedded criminals to understand who will be responsible for its ultimate demise.

UPDATE 27 July 2020: Scottish Raptor Study Group responds to hysteria over proposed grouse moor licensing (here)

Funding award available for early-career raptor conservationists

A funding award of up to £1,000 is up for grabs to help support early-career researchers working on projects that focus on the conservation of birds of prey.

The Marion Paviour Award is administered by the Hawk Conservancy and this is the third year it has been available.

This award is open to applicants anywhere in the world and preference will be given to those seeking support for costs associated with fieldwork and conference attendance to present findings.

In 2018, MSc researcher Katie Harrington received the award to support her research involved with designing and constructing tail-mounted data loggers to investigate the daily movements and activities of the Striated Caracara in the Falkland Islands. Biologist Diego Méndez was the recipient in 2019, using the funding to support surveys of roosts, foraging grounds and nests of the King Vulture in central Bolivia.

The closing date for applications for this year’s award is 31 August 2020. Funds will be available from Oct 2020.

For more information and details of how to apply online, please see here.