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Raeshaw Estate loses appeal against 3-yr General Licence restriction in relation to Golden Eagle Merrick being ‘shot and killed’

Good news!

Raeshaw Estate, in the Scottish Borders, has lost its appeal against its latest three-year General Licence restriction.

The restriction was imposed by NatureScot on 10 February 2026 in relation to the disappearance of Golden Eagle ‘Merrick’, who Police believe was ‘shot & killed‘ in October 2023.

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

Regular blog readers will know that General Licence restrictions, which have been available to NatureScot since 2014, are based on the civil burden of proof and are issued when NatureScot receives information from Police Scotland about wildlife crimes but where there is insufficient evidence to identify an individual offender for prosecution. (GL restrictions can also be imposed on estates where gamekeepers have been convicted of wildlife crimes).

General Licence restrictions do not prevent an estate from game-shooting, nor do they prevent an estate from carrying out [lawful] predator control – this can still be undertaken if the estate applies for an ‘individual licence’ which may restrict the amount of predator control, the estate may be subject to compliance spot checks, and the licence holder must provide NatureScot with licence returns (i.e. indicate how many birds were killed, where, and when etc).

General Licence restrictions are not perfect as an effective sanction – they are nowhere near, as I’ve written about many times before (e.g. see here and links within). They do, however, work as a ‘reputational driver’, although in some cases reputation is apparently not an issue of concern.

Regular blog readers will also know that NatureScot had been considering this particular decision for Raeshaw Estate since April 2024 (see here) when it first received information from Police Scotland about the shooting/killing of Merrick in October 2023. That’s almost two years of procrastination (e.g. see here, here).

When the decision was finally made by NatureScot to impose the three-year GL restriction, starting on 10 February 2026, a spokesperson for Raeshaw Estate, believed to be under the management of a company owned by ‘grouse moor guru’ Mark Osborne, was quoted the following day in various newspapers as saying the restriction was “wholly unjustified” and that the estate intended to appeal (see here).

Under NatureScot’s Framework for GL restrictions, Raeshaw Estate had to submit its appeal, in writing, within 14 days of the notification. That submission would have the effect of suspending the GL restriction, and given that the formal notification of the restriction had been removed from NatureScot’s website by 3 March 2026, it was assumed (and later confirmed) that Raeshaw Estate had indeed submitted an appeal.

Today, I noticed that the formal notification of the restriction has been put back on to NatureScot’s website, which indicates that the appeal has been considered, and formally rejected.

It’s also apparent that the representatives of neighbouring Watherston Wood also lodged an appeal against its three-year restriction, which has also been rejected. Although as far as I’m aware, the killing of so-called ‘pest’ bird species doesn’t take place in the wood anyway so perhaps the appeal was made as a matter of principle rather than an attempt to reinstate the use of General Licences 1, 2 and 3.

Screen grab from Who Owns Scotland website, annotated by RPUK, showing the proximity of Merrick’s last known location and the Raeshaw Estate (shaded in blue)

This is an unprecedented second General Licence restriction for Raeshaw Estate. It was one of the first estates to receive a General Licence restriction in 2015, based on clear police evidence that wildlife crimes had been committed although, just as with the latest GL restriction, there was insufficient evidence to prosecute any individual (see here).

Representatives of Raeshaw Estate applied for a judicial review of NatureScot’s 2015 decision but the Court of Session upheld NatureScot’s procedures and ruled the process was lawful (here).

Whilst under that first General Licence restriction, Raeshaw Estate applied for, and was granted, a number of ‘individual licences’ so the gamekeepers could continue to kill certain species as part of the estate’s grouse moor management plan (quite a lot of birds were lawfully killed – see here).

However, in 2017 the individual licence was revoked by NatureScot due to non-compliance issues and more suspected wildlife crime offences (see here). Not that the revocation made any difference whatsoever, as the estate could simply apply for another individual licence!

Inexplicably to many of us, NatureScot did not extend the length of the original General Licence restriction, which it had the authority to do, in light of the non-compliance issues on the estate’s individual licence (see here).

Raeshaw Estate in the Scottish borders. Data sourced from Who Owns Scotland website.

OPERATION EASTER: 29 years of protecting the UK’s rarest birds

Press release from the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU)

Operation EASTER, the UK’s long‑running national effort to protect nesting birds from illegal egg collectors, returns for its 29th year as police and conservation agencies warn that this damaging wildlife crime remains a real and active threat.

Despite decades of enforcement, education, and public awareness, the illegal taking of wild bird eggs persists. A small number of determined offenders continue to raid nests—sometimes taking entire clutches from the UK’s rarest and most vulnerable species. These eggs often end up hidden in secret collections or traded internationally, causing long-term harm to conservation efforts and the recovery of threatened bird populations.

Recent intelligence shows the scale of the problem is evolving rather than disappearing. In 2024, Operation PULKA dismantled a major transnational egg‑trading network. Thousands of eggs—around 20,000 in total—were seized during coordinated warrants across the UK, with further high-value collections recovered in Australia and Norway. The case underscored the continued demand for wild bird eggs and the sophisticated methods used by offenders.

As the 2026 nesting season begins, police forces and partner agencies will again be out in force to disrupt, deter, and prosecute those involved in egg theft, nest disturbance, and other wildlife crimes targeting birds.

Public information remains one of the most effective tools in stopping offenders.

How the Public Can Help

If you have information about egg thieves or nest disturbance of rare birds, contact your local police on 101 and ask to speak to a Wildlife Crime Officer.
If safe to do so, note descriptions, vehicle registrations, or take photos.

Peak nesting activity begins in April, so early reporting is vital.

You can also report information anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

ENDS

Welsh Government inches towards gamebird licensing, with another ‘evidence review’

Following the welcome news last week that Defra intends to explore options for the introduction of a licensing scheme for ALL gamebird shooting in England, including Red Grouse, as well as the annual release of 60 million non-native Pheasants and Red-legged Partridges for shooting (see here), the Welsh Government has also announced its intention to explore a licensing scheme for gamebird shooting and releases.

The unregulated annual release of an estimated 60 million non-native gamebirds in the UK countryside has gone on for far too long. Photo: Ruth Tingay

On 17 March 2026, Huw Irranca-Davies MS, Deputy First Minister & Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs in Wales made the following statement:

Whilst this is very welcome news, to be honest the Welsh Government should already have a licensing scheme in place because this was recommended by its own statutory nature advisor (NRW – Natural Resources Wales) over two and half years ago!

Some of you may recall the RSPB’s frustration at the lack of progress on this issue in September 2025 (see here), where concerns were heightened due to the increased risk of Avian Influenza (Bird Flu).

I don’t know why the Welsh Government is calling for yet another evidence review; it surely has sufficient evidence by now to just get on with the job. Although I suspect it is probably in fear of a potential legal challenge (either by the gamebird shooting industry if a licensing scheme is implemented, or by conservationists if a scheme is not put in place) so its likely this latest evidence review is simply a legal arse-covering exercise.

Fine. The direction of travel is good, just slower than many of us would like. No timeline is provided for the evidence review, which may be linked to preparations for the forthcoming election. Let’s see what happens after 7th May.

Government to consider licensing for all gamebird shooting & releases in England

Somebody has finally switched the lights on at Defra.

It’s been a very long time coming – too long in my opinion – but last week an announcement was made in the new Land Use Framework for England that the Westminster Government intends to explore options for the licensing of gamebird shooting and releases. This will cover gamebird shooting in both the uplands and the lowlands – in other words, Red Grouse, Pheasant and Red-legged Partridge shooting.

An estimated 10 million non-native Red-legged Partridges are released into the countryside every year, along with 50 million non-native Pheasants (photo by Ruth Tingay)

According to Defra, this policy paper sets out ‘How we can use our land more effectively to increase the resilience of our homes, communities, infrastructure, and food systems, while speeding up development and restoring nature‘ and comes after a public consultation last year.

There’s a good summary of some of the Framework measures, written by land reform campaigner and author Guy Shrubsole (see here), but of particular interest to this blog is the Framework section on gamebird shooting.

It says this:

It looks like the Framework is distinguishing fairly between the different types of gamebird shooting and the cost/benefit differences between them. For example, the environmental impacts of small, walked-up shoots where the emphasis is usually on the ‘experience’ of the day, is quite different to the impacts of the large, intensively managed commercial driven shoots where the emphasis (and value of the estate in the case of grouse shooting) is measured by the number of gamebirds shot each season.

But there’s no getting away from the fact that an estimated 60 million non-native gamebirds are released into the countryside every year for recreational shooting, and that is simply unacceptable and unsustainable. As is the widespread illegal killing of birds of prey on many gamebird shooting estates, both in the uplands and the lowlands.

The Government clearly recognises that the industry is incapable of self-regulation, hence a commitment to explore licensing as a form of regulation and restrictions on gamebird releases beyond those already in place on protected areas. Although we all know that the gamebird shooting industry as a whole is not celebrated for its adherence to the law, on so many levels (raptor persecution, lead ammunition, poisons caches, muirburn, tracks, rodenticides, releases on protected areas, biosecurity, illegally-set traps etc etc) so it’d be a surprise if it embraced any kind of governance, in whatever form that might take.

Indeed, the shooting industry’s response to the Framework announcement has been entirely predictable in its level of hysteria.

For example, Tim Bonner, CEO of the Countryside Alliance, is quoted in The Times saying the proposed regulation was “a declaration of war on game shooting“.

It’s not just gamebird shooting and releases on which Defra seems to have woken up.

Earlier this week there was a welcome announcement of a public consultation on greater protection for Woodcock and other protected bird species (see here) and yesterday another public consultation was announced, this time for how to implement a ban on so-called trail hunting.

Trail hunting is supposed to be a substitute for Fox hunting (which was banned under the Hunting Act 2004 by the previous Labour government) where hounds follow an artificial scent trail laid by humans. However, there has been significant evidence that trail hunting has been used by many hunts to conceal or provide plausible deniability for Fox hunting, leading to Labour’s election manifesto commitment to ban it.

Given the Government’s overall pathetic response to the continued call for a ban on driven grouse shooting last year (here), and its appalling attitude towards reducing environmental protections in its Planning & Infrastructure Act 2025 (here), it’s good to finally see some progressive thinking.

UPDATE 30 March 2026: Welsh Government inches towards gamebird licensing, with another ‘evidence review’ (here)

Loophole closed in grouse shooting licences via Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2026

Some good news!

The giant loophole in Scotland’s grouse shooting licences has been closed, via an amendment in the Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2026.

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.

Red Grouse. Photo by Ronnie Gilbert

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, in November 2024, just three months after they began, the licences were significantly weakened after legal threats from the grouse shooting industry were used to successfully sabotage the licensing regime. 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

In addition to this, the changes made to the licence by NatureScot meant that a whole suite of other ‘relevant offences’ listed in the Wildlife Management & Muirburn Act that were supposed to trigger a licence revocation (i.e. offences on the Protection of Badgers Act 1992, Wild Mammals (Protection) Act 1996, Conservation (Natural Habitats etc) Regulations 1994, Animal Health & Welfare (Scotland) Act 2006, Hunting with Dogs (Scotland) Act 2023) were NOT covered, which was clearly going against the intent of Parliament when the Wildlife & Muirburn Act was voted for.

Thanks to a year of campaigning, notably by Scottish Greens MSP Mark Ruskell and the RSPB, the Scottish Government introduced a proposed amendment during the passage of the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill to close off the grouse shoot licence loophole. Despite push-back from the usual suspects, the amendment passed Stage 3 of the Bill on 29 January 2026 and the Natural Environment (Scotland) Act received Royal Assent on 12 March 2026.

The amendment empowers NatureScot (the licensing authority) to “propose a different area to which the licence is to relate from that described in the [licensee’s] application“, and if unable to reach agreement with the applicant on the area, to refuse the application. My understanding is that this can’t be applied retrospectively (i.e. to licences already granted prior to this Act) without the landowner’s permission but will apply to all new licence applications from this point onwards. Its effectiveness, of course, will rely upon NatureScot’s appetite for standing up to the powerful landowner/shooting lobby – let’s see how that works out, because recent experience doesn’t inspire much confidence.

In addition, and more importantly from my perspective, the existing legislation specified that NatureScot may modify, suspend or revoke a grouse-shooting licence if it was satisfied that the licence holder, or a person involved in managing the land to which the licence relates, had committed a “relevant offence” (a wildlife or animal welfare offence as specified in the Act) “on the land”. The amendment replaces the wording “on the land” so that section now reads “has committed a relevant offence that supports or benefits the activities permitted by the licence” i.e. a relevant offence need not have taken place on the specified licensed area for NatureScot to suspend / revoke the licence.

This is significant as not only does it reinstate all the other ‘relevant offences’ that were lost after NatureScot’s botched changes to the licence after a legal threat from the grouse shooting industry in November 2024, but importantly, it means that if NatureScot considers an offence has been committed beyond the licensable area, sanctions can still be imposed if the offence relates to grouse moor management (e.g. predator control).

My understanding is that, again, this can’t be applied retrospectively (i.e. for offences committed prior to the enactment of the new legislation, unless the offence was committed in the licensable area) but does apply from when the new legislation was enacted.

I don’t think it’ll be too long before we see its effectiveness tested.

Here is the relevant section in the Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2026:

Game-shooting industry’s response to the recent conviction of Perthshire gamekeeper Russell Mason

Further to last week’s news that Scottish gamekeeper and convicted sex offender Russell Mason had pleaded guilty to battering a trapped Goshawk to death on a shooting estate in Perthshire, in addition to firearms offences (see here), I’ve been looking to see how the game-shooting industry has responded to this latest conviction of a member of its community.

Goshawk with Pheasant. Photo by Ronnie Gilbert

You’ll recall that this is the game-shooting industry whose organisations routinely state they have a ‘zero tolerance’ policy towards raptor persecution, and many of them are members of the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime (PAW) Raptor Group, in which case you’d think they’d be quick to condemn this latest crime, and reassure the public that if Mason and/or the estate was a member of any of these organisations they’ve now been expelled, right?

Six days on from Mason’s conviction, here’s how those shooting organisations have responded to the news:

Scottish Gamekeepers Association – silence

Scottish Land & Estates – silence

Scottish Association for Country Sports – silence

British Association for Shooting & Conservation – silence

Countryside Alliance – silence

Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust – silence

Perhaps they’re all waiting for Mason to be sentenced next month before they denounce his criminal activities? Although I can’t think of any reasonable argument for a delay.

Or perhaps they’ll wait for the inevitable public revulsion when the RSPB publishes the video nasty showing Mason bludgeoning the Goshawk to death, before they bother to comment?

Their current collective silence speaks volumes.

Convicted Scottish gamekeeper Russell Mason – more disturbing details about this case

Further to yesterday’s news that Scottish gamekeeper Russell Mason, 49, had pleaded guilty to battering a trapped Goshawk to death on a shooting estate in Perthshire (see here), the Daily Record has published more detail about this case, which is quite disturbing.

The article is reproduced below in case this URL is broken/removed at a later date.

Russell Mason, 49, lured the protected goshawk into a baited trap before battering it several times with a cosh to cause its agonising death.

He was also found to have left nearly 200 rounds of live ammunition lying around in his bedroom and unsecured within his Polaris Ranger vehicle.

Fiscal depute Karon Rollo told Perth Sheriff Court: “Goshawks are rare birds of prey. They hunt birds and small animals. They have a wingspan of up to four feet and weigh between two and three pounds.

“They were persecuted to extinction in Scotland in the last century, but have been reintroduced, with now around 100 breeding pairs in existence.

“A crow cage trap was visited by RSPB staff on 9 January 2024. At the time this trap was set, it had a meat bait, and the door was chained and padlocked shut.

“It had a sign on the trap stating that the Scottish Government pays the estate to catch carrion crows from 1 March to 30 June to increase the chick survival rates for conservation-listed bird species.

“To continue observations and continue with this research, it was decided to install a continuous recording static camera covering this crow cage trap“.

She said RSPB staff visited the camera several times to review the captured footage and became aware of a male visiting the trap on 12 February 2024.

“At this time there was a goshawk and a crow in the trap,” Ms Rollo said. “The male opened and entered the trap. After entering he used a hand-held net to capture the goshawk and put it to the ground.

“He then struck the bird six times with a cosh. He placed the bird into a carrier bag, rolled it up and put the package under his arm.

“He left the trap, placed the net in the back of the vehicle and the bag in the cab. He locked the trap and drove off“.

The prosecutor said: “The male was identified from the footage by police officers, who knew him as being gamekeeper Russell Mason. The crow cage trap number related to the accused.

“Footage on other dates, including him putting a decoy bird in the trap, confirmed his identity. An avian vet specialising in raptors was shown the footage.

“He opined that the goshawk looked healthy and was exhibiting the normal behaviour of a captured raptor. Goshawks, in his experience, as ‘particularly flighty and stressy birds’ and this one was no exception.

“He describes it as showing a man beating a goshawk to death with a cudgel with the bird having been first netted within a crow cage trap.

“He states there were six blows to the body, which may have caused broken wings or rib fractures during the trauma, and that it was quite obviously not killed outright with one blow.

“He is of the view that it is extremely unlikely that it would have been lying passively in the net and therefore there is a high possibility that it would have sustained painful fractures and injuries before dying“.

A search of Mason’s cottage found unsecured ammunition, along with clothes matching those seen on the CCTV footage. A bag and cosh were found in his vehicle.

The bag was analysed and found to have goshawk DNA on it. The search team recovered 195 illegally stored rounds of ammunition.

Mason admitted intentionally or recklessly killing a goshawk on 12 February 2024 by seizing it with a net before repeatedly striking it with a cosh on Cochrage Moor, Bridge of Cally, Perthshire.

He also admitted breaching the terms of his firearms certificate by failing to store ammunition securely.

Sentence on Mason was deferred for the preparation of social work reports until next month by Sheriff Alison McKay and he was granted bail.

Mason was previously placed on the sex offenders register after being spotted carrying out a solo sex act in his car by a resident of a sheltered housing complex.

He was spotted by an elderly woman with his trousers down as he sat in the car beside a path used by children to walk to and from school.

When officers told Mason they were at the scene to investigate reports of someone masturbating in a car, he said: “That was me.”

Mason admitted carrying out an act of public indecency outside the sheltered housing complex in Harriet Court, Blairgowrie, and was placed on the register for a year.

ENDS

A reminder – sentencing for Mason’s latest convictions (wildlife crime & firearms offences) has been deferred until 24 April 2026 for background reports.

UPDATE 23 March 2026: Game-shooting industry’s response to the recent conviction of Perthshire gamekeeper Russell Mason (here)

UPDATE 24 April 2026: Scottish gamekeeper Russell Mason receives derisory sentence for brutal killing of Goshawk (here)

Scottish gamekeeper Russell Mason pleads guilty to battering a Goshawk to death on shooting estate in Perthshire

A Scottish gamekeeper has pleaded guilty to killing a Goshawk after he battered it to death after it was caught inside a Crow cage trap on a shooting estate in Perthshire.

At Perth Sheriff Court this morning, on what should have been the opening day of a criminal trial, gamekeeper Russell Mason, 49, changed his plea to guilty in relation to the charge that he had killed a Goshawk on Cochrage Moor (Muir), believed to be part of the Milton of Drimmie and Strone estate near Blairgowrie, on 12 February 2024 (see here for background to this case).

Goshawk with a Crow. Photo by Ronnie Gilbert

The court was shown a six-minute video of Mason killing the Goshawk – the footage had been filmed covertly by the RSPB’s Investigations Team and was crucial to providing the Crown Office with sufficient evidence to prosecute.

Mason also pleaded guilty to various firearms offences but it is believed that charges relating to alleged snaring offences were dropped, probably as part of a plea bargain.

The court heard that Mason has a previous conviction (the details were not discussed) and sentencing was deferred until 24 April 2026 for background reports. The Sheriff mentioned that a ‘restriction of liberty order’ may be considered. This is a direct alternative to a custodial sentence and usually involves electronic monitoring/tagging.

I expect the RSPB will publish its gruesome footage once sentencing is complete.

Congratulations to Police Scotland, RSPB, Scottish SPCA and the Crown Office & Fiscal Service for an exemplary investigation and prosecution. This is what effective partnership-working looks like.

Incidentally, this is the third successful conviction for raptor persecution in as many months where covert video evidence provided by the RSPB has been pivotal to the case.

The other two cases so far this year were:

12 January 2026, Scarborough Magistrates’ Court: gamekeeper Thomas Munday pleaded guilty to battering to death a Buzzard that had been caught inside a Crow cage trap on a Pheasant shoot at Hovingham, North Yorkshire (here)

and

29 January 2026, York Magistrates’ Court: gamekeeper Racster Dingwall pleaded guilty to conspiring to kill a Hen Harrier as it came in to roost on a grouse moor on the Conistone & Grassington Estate in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here).

Many of you will be aware of the game-shooting industry’s recently ramped-up efforts to try to discredit and smear the reputations of RSPB Investigations Team members; these three convictions shouldn’t leave you in any doubt of the industry’s motivation.

Without the skill and expertise of the RSPB’s ability to capture such covert footage, these criminals would have escaped justice and the game-shooting industry’s claims of respectability and adherence to the law would go unchallenged. It’s as simple as that.

We can expect more news on the repercussions of today’s conviction in due course – i.e. was Mason a member of the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association? Was he a member of the Tayside & Central Regional Moorland Group? (certainly someone with the same name and affiliation has previously signed an official letter to the Scottish Parliament about snaring regulations). Will NatureScot impose a three-year General Licence restriction on this estate? Is the estate a member of the landowners’ lobby group, Scottish Land & Estates? And will there be a prosecution for alleged vicarious liability?

NB: As legal proceedings have now concluded, comments are open on this case, with the usual caveat that offensive/libellous posts will not be published.

UPDATE 18 March 2026: Convicted Scottish gamekeeper Russell Mason – more disturbing details about this case (here)

UPDATE 23 March 2026: Game-shooting industry’s response to the recent conviction of Perthshire gamekeeper Russell Mason (here)

UPDATE 24 April 2026: Scottish gamekeeper Russell Mason receives derisory sentence for brutal killing of Goshawk (here)

Trial due to begin tomorrow for Scottish gamekeeper accused of killing a Goshawk on a Perthshire shooting estate

A trial is due to begin tomorrow (Tuesday 17 March 2026) at Perth Sheriff Court for a Scottish gamekeeper accused of killing a Goshawk on a Perthshire shooting estate.

The alleged incident took place on 12 February 2024 on a shooting estate near Blairgowrie.

Goshawk with a Pheasant. Photo by Ronnie Gilbert.

Police Scotland, with the assistance of partners from the RSPB and Scottish SPCA, executed a search warrant on the estate on 29 February 2024, leading to the arrest of a 47-year-old gamekeeper and subsequent charge (see here).

He has pleaded not guilty.

The trial was due to start on 11 November 2025 but it didn’t call due to another trial over-running (see here).

NB: As this case is live, comments are turned off until legal proceedings have ended.

UPDATE 17 March 2026: Scottish gamekeeper Russell Mason pleads guilty to battering a Goshawk to death on shooting estate in Perthshire (here)

Gamebirds dumped in a pit on a shooting estate in Cairngorms National Park

A large pit containing dead Pheasants, Red-legged Partridges, Wood Pigeons, deer parts, and a lot of rubbish, including a burnt mattress, has been found on a shooting estate in the Cairngorms National Park.

Last October, a blog reader was walking on the Glenbanchor and Pitmain Estate, to the north of Kingussie when they saw what they described as “an estate vehicle” tipping dead birds in to an area at the side of a track that was concealed behind a spoil heap.

The walker returned to the site once the vehicle had left and took these photographs:

It appears that at least some of the gamebirds have been ‘breasted out’ – their breast meat removed, presumably for sale/consumption, and the carcasses then dumped in the pit.

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. Often they’re fly-tipped by the side of the road (e.g. see here).

In this case, the pile of rubble on site suggests that this is a burial pit, and perhaps the burnt mattress is used to cover the pit temporarily, in between dumping visits.

The blog reader reported this incident to SEPA (Scottish Environment Protection Agency) to see whether an offence had been committed but SEPA apparently thought ‘they’re subject to a waste disposal exemption’ and therefore this doesn’t constitute a crime.

It’s hard to believe that dumping gamebirds for burial is legal, especially when the country is in the grip of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, but the regulations are very confusing.

I’ve done a bit of research on this but I’m still not sure which regulations apply and which don’t.

If the gamebird carcasses are classed as animal by-products (and there are questions around that – it’s complicated!) then disposing of them by burial is unlawful due to the risk of spreading disease through residues in the soil, groundwater or air pollution (Animal By-Products (Enforcement) (Scotland) Regulations 2013).

There are exemptions, in areas of Scotland classed as ‘remote areas’. However, the location of this particular pit lies outside the ‘remote area’ and so an exemption wouldn’t apply:

I need to do some more work on this, and talk to the local authority (Highland Council) who I believe would be responsible for enforcement of any breaches of the Animal By-Products legislation.

But whether this is legal or illegal, it’s ethically appalling.

And I dare say the Cairngorms National Park Authority will be taking note, given its stated intention to:

‘Ensure that all pheasant and partridge shoots adhere to best practice and that all gamebird releases are sustainable and do not negatively impact on native biodiversity‘

and

‘Depending on the evidence gathered, investigate the use of Park Authority powers to regulate gamebird releases and develop a regulatory approach if required‘ (see here).

For the benefit of the Cairngorms National Park Authority, and anyone else who wants to take a look, here are the location details of the pit (estate boundary sourced from Andy Wightman’s Who Owns Scotland website):

It’s my understanding that NatureScot is currently considering whether police evidence about an unrelated alleged wildlife crime on this estate is sufficient to impose a three-year General Licence restriction (see here).

You may also not be surprised to hear that this isn’t the only gamebird-dumping pit that’s been found on a sporting estate in Scotland….details to follow.

UPDATE 8 April 2026: General & hazardous waste, including bags of suspected shot gamebirds, found dumped in a pit on an estate in Scotland (here)