2023 persecution incidents – Page 6

2023 worst year for persecution of hen harriers on UK grouse moors since brood meddling began

2023 has been the worst year for the illegal killing of hen harriers on grouse moors since the ludicrous DEFRA / Natural England hen harrier brood meddling trial was given the green light in 2018.

By September this year, the number of confirmed ‘missing’/dead hen harriers in 2023 stood at 21 birds. However, the RSPB’s annual Birdcrime Report, which was published a couple of weeks ago (here), included previously withheld information about three more satellite-tagged hen harriers that have gone this year:

Hen harrier Saranyu, a female tagged by the RSPB in Cumbria in June 2023, who ‘disappeared’ in Durham in September 2023 (no further details available yet).

Hen harrier Inger, a female tagged by the RSPB in Perthshire in July 2022, who ‘disappeared’ on a grouse moor in the Angus Glens in September 2023 (here).

Hen harrier Dagda, a male tagged by the RSPB in Lancashire in June 2022 and who was breeding on the RSPB’s Geltsdale Reserve in 2023 until he ‘vanished’, only to be found dead on the neighbouring Knarsdale grouse moor in May 2023 – a post mortem revealed he had been shot (here).

So that takes this year’s total (so far) to 24 ‘missing’/dead hen harriers and this number is expected to rise as I understand there are other incidents that haven’t yet been publicised. This is the highest number of (known) persecuted hen harriers in six years and includes nine of Natural England’s brood meddled harriers:

*No brood meddling took place in 2018, the year Natural England issued the first licence

Do these disgraceful figures indicate to you that Natural England’s brood meddling scheme is working? (Remember, one of the objectives of this ‘trial’ is to test whether grouse moor managers would stop illegally killing hen harriers if nestlings were removed from grouse moors, under licence, reared in captivity and released elsewhere).

If you listen to the spin of the grouse shooting industry, the brood meddling trial is being declared a pure and unmitigated triumph for hen harriers. The Moorland Association (Natural England’s main ‘partner’ in the trial which brings with it a level of perceived credibility to those who don’t know any better) issued a press release in mid- November to announce that the (short term) survival rate of brood meddled hen harriers was greater than the (short term) survival rate of un-meddled harriers, but conveniently forgot to mention the persecution figures and that 56% of all the brood meddled chicks had since ‘disappeared’ / been illegally killed (see here). The Moorland Association’s horseshit propaganda was recently regurgitated in the national press, including the Daily Mail (obvs) and as far as I can see, Natural England did nothing to challenge the narrative.

The chairman of the Moorland Association even told BBC Radio 4 in August this year that, “Clearly, any illegal [hen harrier] persecution is not happening” (here) when clearly, it so obviously is.

Then in late November, Dr Alistair Leake, GWCT’s Director of Policy wrote a letter to the Guardian (and a copy was posted on GWCT’s website) stating that the hen harrier brood management [meddling] scheme “is surely a shining example of human / wildlife conflict resolution that would be the envy of other countries trying to find similar solutions“.

It is quite obvious to anyone with functioning eyesight that not only has the illegal killing of hen harriers continued since the brood meddling trial began, but that the extent of the (known) killing has got worse.

The hen harrier killers are now so brazen and out of control that they don’t even care if they take out brood meddled harriers – birds that they initially mostly left alone in the early years of the trial.

They can afford to be so audacious about their crimes because they know that (a) they’re NEVER caught, (b) never prosecuted, (c) never convicted, (d) the grouse shooting industry’s representative bodies will shamelessly deny the criminality even exists and (e) the industry will still get a brood meddling licence from Natural England to keep the harriers off their grouse moors, even in Special Protection Areas specifically designated to protect hen harriers, because Natural England doesn’t have the balls to call them out and won’t pull the plug on the trial because it doesn’t want to lose face and admit it’s been taken for a mug for all these years.

It’ll be interesting to see Natural England’s next update on the fates of its tagged hen harriers (last update was September 2023 – next one will be due in the new year) to see what this year’s final tally of hen harrier killing has been and whether that figure, the highest in the six years since brood meddling began, will influence Natural England’s decision to continue with its brood meddling licence in 2024.

Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority CEO “hugely embarrassed” by ongoing killing of birds of prey

Press release from Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority (1st December 2023)

Reaction to the RSPB Birdcrime Report

The RSPB recently published its latest ‘Birdcrime’ report.

David Butterworth, Chief Executive Officer of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, said: “It is yet again hugely embarrassing that this part of the country has been shamed as being the worst for proven and suspected bird of prey persecution in the UK.

“An end to the illegal killing of birds cannot come soon enough. Some of the instances of criminality this year beggar belief. The stamping to death of 4 young Harrier chicks and one Harrier having its head pulled from its body while still alive. Truly shocking levels of depravity.

Hen harrier ‘Free’, found on moorland in the Yorkshire Dales National Park and whose post mortem revealed that the cause of death was the head being twisted and pulled off while the body was held tightly. His leg had also been ripped off whilst he was alive. Photo by Natural England via RSPB’s 2022 Birdcrime report.

“It’s all the more galling because there are signs of positive change. Some local land managers are doing great work to conserve birds of prey in the National Park.

“We are currently preparing a new evidence report on bird of prey populations in the National Park on behalf of the Yorkshire Dales Bird of Prey Partnership. We hope this report will be published in the coming weeks. Sadly all of this will count for little whilst the persecution of Birds of Prey continues“.

ENDS

Bravo, David Butterworth, for this very public and unequivocal condemnation of the ongoing raptor persecution in this so-called National Park.

But isn’t it time the pretend Yorkshire Dales Bird of Prey ‘Partnership’ was closed down? The RSPB has already left because it recognised the futility of trying to ‘partner’ with the likes of the Moorland Association – how much more time, money and effort is going to be pumped into this pseudo-union, whilst the crimes against birds of prey just carry on and on and on?

Partnerships and coalitions only work when objectives are shared. In the case of the Yorkshire Dales Bird of Prey ‘Partnership’, the Chair of the Moorland Association doesn’t even accept that hen harrier persecution is happening (see here), let alone that it’s an issue that needs to be addressed. What’s the point of continuing this ‘partnership’ charade?

As an aside, the RSPB’s 2022 Birdcrime report was published ten days ago and it contains a lot of material that I want to blog about. I’ve been distracted by events in Scotland (more golden eagle persecution, more peregrine persecution, and a landmark vote by the Scottish Parliament to agree to the general principles of a grouse moor licensing scheme) but I haven’t forgotten about the Birdcrime report and will come back to it shortly….

A Scottish grouse moor-owning baron, an illegally pole-trapped peregrine and a Ministerial post in DEFRA

Yesterday it was announced that Robbie Douglas-Miller OBE has been appointed as a Parliamentary Under Secretary of State in the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA).

Eh? So an unelected billionaire who likes to wear a crown has conferred a Barony on some other bloke which then allows that other unelected bloke to be given a Ministerial role in DEFRA, which has been approved by the unelected billionaire who likes to wear a crown, and we’re all supposed to accept this is a functional democracy? Good grief.

That new unelected DEFRA Environment Minister, Baron Douglas-Miller, is believed to be the same Robbie Douglas-Miller who just happens to be the sole director of Moorfoot Capital Management Ltd which owns a grouse moor (Hopes Estate) in the Lammermuirs in south Scotland. Along with Lord Benyon, that’ll now be two grouse moor-owning Environment Ministers in DEFRA.

Douglas-Miller has, according to this article in the Guardian, been accused of ‘obstructing public access‘ by ‘apparently making it difficult for walkers to access a site East Lothian’s Lammermuir Hills, which is part of his Hopes Estate‘.

It’s not the first time access issues have been raised at Hopes Estate. In 2017, fieldworkers from the Scottish Raptor Study Group published two scientific papers about their long-term monitoring of merlins on grouse moors in the Lammermuirs and how that came to an abrupt end in 2015 after they were suddenly refused vehicular access, having previously enjoyed a good cooperative relationship with landowners and gamekeepers for many years. They believed that the relationship breakdown was a result of them highlighting some of the intensification of management practices on those grouse moors. Their study area covered several estates including the Hopes Estate (see here and here).

It’s worth noting that none of these grouse moor management practices were unlawful (at the time), and indeed the fieldworkers did not find any evidence of illegal raptor persecution, but their criticism of the increased use of bridge (rail) traps that were catching / killing non-target species such as dippers, merlin and ring ouzels, and the killing of mountain hares that were then dumped in stink pits was an issue of concern to them.

The Hopes Estate had achieved accreditation in 2013/14 under the Wildlife Estates Scotland (WES) scheme, which is administered by landowners’ lobby group Scottish Land & Estates and was chaired for several years by Robbie Douglas-Miller.

Estates that are awarded accreditation under the WES scheme have to meet certain criteria, including:

Commitment to best practice
Adoption of game and wildlife management plans that underpin best practice
Maintaining species and habitats records
Conservation and collaborative work
Integration with other land management activities (such as farming, forestry and tourism)
Social, economic and cultural aspects (such as employment, community engagement and communications)

The WES scheme was first piloted in 2011 and was believed to be in response to MSP Peter Peacock’s call in 2010 for an estate licensing scheme to combat ongoing raptor persecution (see here). The scheme was then rolled out fully in 2013 but not without some healthy scepticism of it being a greenwashing exercise (see here).

Since then, in general, I think it’s probably been a good thing for estates to aspire to, although a number of estates in the WES scheme have had wildlife crime incidents recorded on their land, e.g. Invercauld Estate (see here and pay attention to the letter written by the estate to the then Environment Minister where the estate quoted its membership of the WES scheme as an example of its apparently good stewardship. Of course, this estate is now currently serving a three-year General Licence restriction after further evidence of wildlife crime was uncovered there, including what Police Scotland described as the ‘deliberate’ poisoning of a golden eagle – here).

In addition, the WES-accredited Newlands Estate in Dumfriesshire saw one of its gamekeepers convicted for killing a buzzard after he threw rocks at it before repeatedly stamping on it (see here and here). To be fair, when challenged about the estate’s WES accreditation in light of the gamekeeper’s conviction, WES stated that the estate’s accreditation had been ‘suspended’ (note, not revoked, see here) although for how long, who knows?

And just this week, another WES-accredited estate is at the centre of a police investigation after a dead peregrine was found in a baited illegal pole trap in the Pentlands (see here). The Police Scotland appeal for information stated that the dead peregrine ‘was found around 100 yards from a public path on the edge of a small woodland south of Wester Bavelaw on Thursday, 23 November, 2023′.

According to Andy Wightman’s Who Owns Scotland website this ‘small woodland south of Wester Bavelaw’ appears to be on the Bavelaw Estate:

The Bavelaw Estate, according to its own website, is a WES-accredited estate and says this about it:

‘Over the last five years, The estate have enhanced habitat across the board, including planting over 50 ha of mixed native woodland, peatland restoration, the creation of wetland areas, including wader scrapes and ponds, restoration of riparian habitats and heather and bracken swiping as well as connecting wildlife corridors. Additionally, restoring 7,861 sq Km of public access paths.

The assessor was extremely impressed with the integrated management direction the Estate is taking and specifically referenced the undeniable passion and enthusiasm for nature that both the landowner and his employees have‘.

Interestingly, and again according to Andy Wightman’s Who Owns Scotland website (data collected 10 July 2023), Bavelaw Estate is owned by Robert, Andrew, Robert and Edward Douglas-Miller as Trustees of Firm of Bavelaw Castle Farm:

Now, to be absolutely clear and for the avoidance of doubt, there is no suggestion whatsoever that Robbie Douglas-Miller, or his relatives, or indeed anyone associated with Bavelaw Estate is responsible for, or had any knowledge of, the setting and baiting of that illegal pole trap that killed the peregrine. The police investigation is ongoing and we’ll just have to wait and see whether the police appeal for information brings forward any witnesses and whether the forensic analysis identifies a suspect.

I genuinely expect Robbie Douglas-Miller will have been as horrified as the rest of us and will be eager to know who set that illegal trap, and who might also be responsible for other incidents of raptor persecution / wildlife crime in the area, e.g. the illegally poisoned peregrine found about half a mile away in 2018 (here), the suspicious disappearance of golden eagle Fred a few kilometres away in 2018 (here) the merlin nest that was shot out in 2017 (here) and the raven shot on its nest in 2016 (here).

Nevertheless, it appears that a heinous wildlife crime has been detected on another WES-accredited estate, and that the apparent new DEFRA Environment Minister is a co-Trustee of the company that owns the estate.

As an aside, I was interested to see the game-shooting lobby was very quick to deny that the pole-trapped peregrine had anything to do with grouse shooting – indeed, MSP Rachael Hamilton even stated as much in the Chamber during Thursday’s parliamentary debate on the Wildlife Management Bill (“…there is clearly no link to a grouse moor management…“, here). How does she know?!

There is driven grouse shooting on neighbouring land to Bavelaw and Bavelaw was once a prominent grouse shooting estate itself (the lines of grouse butts are marked on the OS map) but it is believed that Bavelaw is currently managed as a sheep farm, although there is evidence that muirburn takes place but it doesn’t look like the intensive muirburn typically associated with a driven grouse moor:

Bavelaw Estate. Photo by RPUK blog reader

What’s really interesting then, is why the Bavelaw Estate was a signatory on a recent letter sent to Environment Minister Gillian Martin where nearly 400 rural businesses expressed their concern that a grouse moor licensing scheme would be detrimental to their interests (see here). You can’t have it both ways – either there’s a link to grouse shooting or there isn’t.

I really don’t know what to make of Robbie Douglas-Miller’s appointment as an Environment Minister in DEFRA. What can a prominent grouse moor owner, member of Scottish Land & Estates and a former GWCT Director bring to the policy table? Perhaps he’ll use his experience of chairing the WES scheme in Scotland to try and impart some sense to the appalling and unregulated mismanagement of England’s grouse moors? Although given SLE’s open-mouthed hysteria about the proposed grouse moor licensing scheme in Scotland, that doesn’t seem likely.

UPDATE 7th December 2023: More information emerges on new, unelected DEFRA minister (here)

Environment Minister provides additional evidence ahead of today’s Stage 1 debate on grouse moor licensing bill

Ten days ago the Rural Affairs & Islands Committee published its Stage 1 report on the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Bill (here).

The Committee’s report contained requests for further detail / clarification from the Scottish Government on many aspects of the Bill, prior to today’s Stage 1 debate in the Scottish Parliament.

Those information requests included more information on the level of threat to raptors on grouse moors and the levels of ‘recovery’ of raptor populations, the provisions of NatureScot to suspend / revoke a grouse shooting licence, the range of relevant offences that would trigger a suspension / revocation, various questions about muirburn, various questions about the proposed ban on snares, and various questions about the proposed extension of powers for the SSPCA.

An illegally poisoned red kite found on Dava Moor, just outside the Cairngorms National Park, 2021

Yesterday, Environment Minister Gillian Martin MSP responded to the Committee with the following letter (see below), in which she provides a summary of the status of several raptor species whose populations have been affected by ongoing illegal persecution on grouse moors (regular blog readers won’t learn anything new – it’s all information that’s been in the public domain for some time). She also answers the unfounded and arrogant criticism from some in the grouse shooting industry that her speedy decision to ban snares was made fast because (a) the Committee had pushed her for a speedy response ahead of its deliberations for the Stage 1 report and (b) because the grouse shooting industry’s proposals for a licensing scheme for snare use didn’t contain any evidence that the Government hadn’t heard before.

Here’s her letter – well worth a read. She’s standing firm on the fundamental issues of importance but is prepared to consider her position on some of what I would consider minor, less important issues such as potentially changing the length of the licence period from an annual licence to one that is issued for a three to five year period. It’s also worth noting her cover letter to the Committee in which she points out that, unusually, the Committee’s Stage 1 report does not indicate whether the Committee supports or rejects the general principles of the Bill!

wildlife-bill-sg-response-to-stage-1-report Download

It’ll be all eyes on the Scottish Parliament this afternoon as the Stage 1 report is debated in the main Chamber, followed by a vote on whether the Bill can progress to Stage 2.

You can watch live on Scottish Parliament TV from 2.30pm HERE

Thank you to all of you who sent emails to your MSPs and to the three Ministers ahead of this debate, urging their attendance and support of the Bill following the news that one of the South Scotland golden eagles has ‘disappeared’ and which Police Scotland ‘believe has come to harm‘. It’s been important for MSPs to understand ahead of this debate the extent of public anger that these criminal atrocities against birds of prey continue.

Let’s see which MSPs agree.

Peregrine found dead in illegal pole trap in Pentland Hills – Police Scotland appeals for information

Press release from Police Scotland:

Appeal after peregrine falcon found dead in a trap near Balerno, Edinburgh

Wildlife officers are appealing after a protected bird of prey was found dead in a trap near Balerno, Edinburgh.

The dead peregrine falcon was found around 100 yards from a public path on the edge of a small woodland south of Wester Bavelaw on Thursday, 23 November, 2023.

Wildlife Crime Officer, Detective Constable Daniel Crilley, said: “This protected bird was found in a baited pole trap that is illegal.

“Peregrine falcons are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act and forensic tests are being done as part of our ongoing enquiries to establish the full circumstances.

“We are asking anyone who saw anything suspicious in the area or who has information that could help pour investigation to get in touch.

“If you can help please contact us via 101, quoting incident number 1376 of Friday, 24 November, or make a call anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”

ENDS

Well done Police Scotland for a speedy press release.

Pole traps, like this one photographed a few years ago on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, have been illegal since 1904, and for very good reason.

It’s a barbaric way to kill any animal and causes horrendous suffering and distress, often over a period of many hours. A spring trap is placed on a post where a bird of prey is likely to perch. When the bird lands on the ‘plate’, the trap springs shut on the bird’s legs. When the bird tries to fly off, it ends up dangling upside down because the trap is attached to the post to prevent it from being carried away. The bird remains dangling, often with severe injuries, until its ultimate demise.

Whoever set this trap, whether they were targeting a peregrine or something else, should be in jail. Anybody who is prepared to inflict this level of suffering to a living creature, let alone to a protected species, should not be at large in a civilised society.

The location of this awful crime is also of interest – just a couple of kilometres from where satellite-tagged golden eagle Fred ‘disappeared’ in 2018 (see here) before his tag (and maybe Fred) ended up in the North Sea. It’s also very close to the location of a poisoned peregrine found in the Pentlands in 2018 (here). It’s becoming quite the persecution hotspot.

It’s also yet another timely example for MSPs voting on the general principles of the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Bill in Parliament on Thursday. If this case, along with the recent suspicious disappearance of golden eagle Merrick, doesn’t help persuade MSPs that they’re being given the two-fingered salute, I don’t know what will.

UPDATE 2 December 2023: A Scottish grouse moor-owning Baron, an illegally pole-trapped peregrine and a Ministerial post in DEFRA (here)

If you’re angry about the loss of golden eagle Merrick, here’s something you can do

Today’s news that yet another golden eagle (‘Merrick’) has ‘disappeared’ in an area dominated by driven grouse shooting, and that Police Scotland has reason to “believe she has come to harm” (see here and here), won’t be a surprise to anyone who follows this blog. The eagle killers have been at it for years (e.g. here).

The only surprise is that it took this long for an eagle from the high profile South Scotland Golden Eagle Project to be targeted. Although I daresay that the project’s convention of notifying estates when any of the eagles were present over their land has helped to delay the inevitable.

Golden eagle Merrick visiting northern England. Photo: Gordon MacPherson

The reason the eagle killers have been getting away with it for years (and years and years – nobody ever successfully prosecuted) is because the evidential threshold to charge a named individual is so very high. So even when, for example, three golden eagles were found poisoned on a grouse moor in the Highlands a few years ago, and a massive stash of the banned poison Carbofuran was found locked in the gamekeeper’s shed, to which only he had the key, there still wasn’t sufficient evidence to prosecute him for poisoning those eagles because the police/Crown Office couldn’t prove that that individual was the person who laid the poison that killed those three eagles.

But this frankly absurd situation is about to change, with the introduction of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill, sometimes referred to as the ‘grouse moor reform Bill’.

This Bill proposes to introduce a licensing scheme for all grouse shooting in Scotland, and that licence could be suspended/revoked based on the civil burden of proof (i.e. ‘on a balance of probabilities’ that someone associated with the grouse shoot was responsible for an offence) rather than the much harder to achieve criminal burden of proof (i.e. where the prosecution has to prove ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ that a named individual was culpable).

The general principles of the Bill, furiously opposed by the grouse shooting industry, is due to be debated in the Scottish Parliament this Thursday (30 November 2023). If it passes, it will progress to Stage 2 where the finer details will be picked over.

It is vitally important that this Bill passes to Stage 2. It has been a long, long fight to get this Bill on the table and even though it’s not perfect, it offers the best opportunity to date to make the eagle-killers pay for their crimes.

If you’re angry about the loss of Merrick (and all the other golden eagles, hen harriers, white-tailed eagles, buzzards, goshawks, red kites, sparrowhawks, peregrines etc) that have been illegally killed before her, please consider channelling that anger into something positive.

If you’re a citizen of Scotland, please email your MSP, right now, and urge them to (a) attend the parliamentary debate on Thursday and (b) vote to pass the general principles of the Bill so it can progress to the next stage.

If you’re not sure who your MSP is, you can find them HERE.

For those who don’t live in Scotland but who care just as deeply about this issue (and let’s not forget, Merrick spent some time exploring parts of northern England so it’s not just Scotland who’s being robbed of these eagles), please send an email to the following Ministers and urge them to continue pressing on with this legislation without watering it down just to appease the eagle-killers:

Environment & Energy Minister, Gillian Martin MSP: ministerenergy@gov.scot

Green Skills, Circular Economy & Biodiversity Minister, Lorna Slater MSP: ministerforgsceb@gov.scot

Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, Land Reform & Islands, Mairi Gougeon MSP: cabsecralri@gov.scot

Thank you.

‘Missing’ golden eagle is from high profile South Scotland Golden Eagle Project

Further to today’s news that Police Scotland believe a ‘missing’ satellite tagged golden eagle “has come to harm” in the Scottish Borders (see here), the South Scotland Golden Eagle Project has just issued the following press release:

Pioneering project responds to disappearance of Merrick the golden eagle

Representatives for a ground breaking conservation initiative, which attributes its success to overwhelming support from the public, raptor workers and land managers, have today expressed their shock, sadness and disappointment at the disappearance of Merrick, a female golden eagle translocated by the project in 2022. Police Scotland today confirmed they “believe the bird has come to harm and are treating its disappearance as suspicious.”

Screen grab from South Scotland Golden Eagle Project website in January 2023

Responding to the news and backing calls for anyone with any information to report it to Police Scotland, Chair of the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project, Dumfriesshire farmer Michael Clarke said: “The disappearance of any golden eagle is extremely upsetting, but particularly when there is evidence to suggest that they have come to harm under suspicious circumstances. The project’s translocated eagles have captured the hearts and minds of many people, including children, who will all share in our utter shock, disappointment and sadness at the nature of Merrick’s disappearance.

“Indeed, the huge support our project has had for many years from tens of thousands of people in the community, raptor workers, conservation and the land management sectors, makes it all the more devastating makes it all the more devastating to learn that she may have come to harm at the hands of someone who has disregarded the legal protection of the bird and the vital importance of a restored golden eagle population to protecting biodiversity and reversing nature’s decline.

“The South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project’s success in quadrupling the local population is absolutely testament to the overwhelming community support, faith and trust that we have had in our work to date. For over six years our passionate and dedicated project team have worked painstakingly round the clock, in partnership with raptor workers, vets, estates, land managers, game keepers and the wider community, to ensure the health and safety of the birds we translocate. Continued support such as this is vital to saving Scotland’s nature for future generations.

“We are more resolved than ever to do our supporters justice and ensure the golden eagle population in the south of Scotland continues to thrive.

“We’re grateful to Police Scotland for support and using all the resources at their disposal to establish the full circumstances. To ensure due process is followed, we cannot comment further at this stage. We will do so when Police Scotland shares more detail.

“We thank everyone for their support at this tough time and urge anyone with information to assist Police Scotland by contacting them on 101, quoting incident number 1193 of 18 October 2023.”

Merrick (F43), named after the highest peak in the Southern Uplands, originated from Rottal estate near Kirriemuir in the Angus Glens, a traditional sporting estate, which is accredited by Wildlife Estates Scotland (WES) for its commitment to protecting and restoring wildlife and biodiversity.

Merrick was the fifth eagle collected in the summer of 2022, the last to leave the aviaries, and the heaviest eagle translocated that summer at 5.2 kg. She was named by the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project’s host charity, the Southern Uplands Partnership (SUP).

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

Before her disappearance, the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project team’s round-the-clock surveillance of the golden eagles, showed that Merrick was thriving and exploring all over south of Scotland and Northern England in the south of Scotland. Merrick was photographed on her trip in Weardale and filmed in Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project partners the Southern Uplands Partnership, RSPB Scotland, Scottish Land & Estates, Scottish Forestry and NatureScot all share in the disappointment of today’s news. They worked on the project together for more than 11 years before releasing the first eagle chicks in 2018. Funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, project partners and the Scottish Government, the initiative is a key project under the Government’s ‘Challenge for Scotland’s Biodiversity’.

ENDS

More comment to follow…

UPDATE 19.00hrs: If you’re angry about the loss of golden eagle Merrick, here’s something you can do (here)

UPDATE 1 May 2024: Police believe golden eagle ‘Merrick’ was shot and killed in south Scotland (here)

Police believe satellite-tagged golden eagle “has come to harm” in south Scotland

Police Scotland have issued the following appeal for information this afternoon:

APPEAL FOR INFORMATION ON MISSING GOLDEN EAGLE IN SCOTTISH BORDERS

Detectives are continuing their enquiries and now appealing for any help the public can give after a satellite-tagged Golden Eagle was reported missing in the Scottish Borders on Wednesday, 18 October.

Detective Sergeant David Lynn, Police Scotland Wildlife Crime Coordinator, said: “Since the report was made, officers have been working with a range of partner agencies to establish more details and gather further information to establish the circumstances.

“The bird was last seen in the area to the west of Fountainhall, between Heriot and Stow on Thursday, 12 October. A full search of this area was carried out and officers believe the bird has come to harm and are treating its disappearance as suspicious.

“We are determined to protect these magnificent birds. We work closely with a number of partners to tackle wildlife crime, which can be challenging and complex to investigate. As our enquiry continues I would urge anyone with any information that may assist to contact us through 101 quoting reference number 1193 of 18 October. Alternatively, please contact Crimestoppers though 0800 555 111, where anonymity can be maintained.”

ENDS

More comment on this in due course…

UPDATE 16.45hrs: ‘Missing’ golden eagle is from South Scotland Golden Eagle Project (here)

UPDATE 19.00hrs: If you’re angry about the loss of golden eagle Merrick, here’s something you can do (here)

UPDATE 1 May 2024: Police believe golden eagle ‘Merrick’ was shot and killed in south Scotland (here)

UPDATE 11 August 2025: 16 months (& waiting) for NatureScot to make decision on General Licence restriction relating to ‘shooting and killing’ of sleeping Golden Eagle called Merrick (here).

Grouse moor licensing Bill: Stage 1 debate scheduled for Thurs 30 November 2023

The Scottish Parliament’s Stage 1 debate of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill will take place in the Chamber this Thursday, 30 November 2023, from 2.30pm.

This debate provides all MSPs with the opportunity to discuss the general principles of the Bill and vote to either throw it out or allow it to proceed to Stage 2, which is when the finer details would be debated and amended.

The Stage 1 debate follows the publication last week of the Stage 1 scrutiny report written by the Rural Affairs & Islands Committee which has been taking evidence for the last six months.

Lobbying of MSPs continues apace, from both conservationists and from the grouse-shooting industry. I read the other day a quote from BASC Scotland Director Peter Clark, who wrote that BASC was urging MSPs, “…to work with us to make the enormous yet vital changes to the Bill to avert the decimation of the rural economy, biodiversity and conservation“.

Quite how a licensing scheme designed to regulate a supposedly lawful industry will ‘decimate the rural economy, biodiversity and conservation’ is anyone’s guess. It’s almost as if Peter thinks the industry is so reliant on criminality that it can’t possibly function under a licensing framework and will thus collapse.

This level of hysterical fearmongering is nothing new. Here’s an excerpt from a blog I wrote three years ago when a similar outcry was heard from the grouse-shooting sector in response to the announcement that the Scottish Government intended to introduce a grouse shooting licence scheme:

This hysterical scaremongering about so-called threats to the rural economy from the introduction of a grouse moor licensing scheme is nothing new from this lot (e.g. see here, here, here and here for previous histrionics).

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 [in 2003] 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 [in 2015] 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 then 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).

Has the rural economy fallen flat on its arse as a result of these measures? Not according to the grouse shooting industry, which is still declaring itself indispensable to the Scottish economy (a claim strongly contested by others, e.g. see here).

As has been said before on this blog, the grouse shooting industry should be thanking its lucky stars that a licensing scheme is all it’s getting. The case for a ban on driven grouse shooting has been made many times over.

There are those of us who don’t believe for one second that a licensing scheme will be effectively enforced, although we’ll do our bloody level best to ensure it is enforced when breaches have been detected and are fully evidenced. And if/when the licensing scheme is shown to be failing, there’s only one place left to go.

It seems to me that the grouse shooting industry should be welcoming a licensing scheme, which should protect those who are complying with the law and remove those who are not. Gosh, a world where there are consequences for criminality. Imagine that! Is that really what this backlash is all about?

Meanwhile, lobbyists from the conservation sector will this week be reminding MSPs that even in the midst of all this political scrutiny and threat, there are still some in the grouse-shooting industry that simply refuse to stop killing birds of prey, as evidenced in last week’s RSPB Birdcrime report where we learned that as recently as July this year yet another satellite-tagged golden eagle ‘vanished’ in suspicious circumstances on a grouse moor in the Monadhliaths and as recently as September this year yet another satellite-tagged hen harrier ‘vanished’ on a grouse moor in the Angus Glens.

These are in addition to the suspicious disappearances of a further 35 satellite-tagged birds of prey on Scotland’s grouse moors between 2017-2022, including including 8 golden eagles, 21 hen harriers and 5 white-tailed eagles (here).

The time for pretending that this is all ‘historical’ and no longer an issue is well and truly over and I hope that the Scottish Parliament finally makes a stand on Thursday.

Proceedings in the main Chamber can be watched live on Scottish Parliament TV from 2.30pm on Thursday, here.

Another golden eagle and another hen harrier suspiciously ‘disappeared’ on two Scottish grouse moors this year

Further to the RSPB press release accompanying the publication of the RSPB’s latest Birdcrime report this morning (here), RSPB Scotland has issued a separate press release.

It reveals the suspicious disappearance of a satellite-tagged golden eagle on an unnamed grouse moor in Inverness-shire in July this year and the suspicious disappearance of a satellite-tagged hen harrier on an unnamed grouse moor in the Angus Glens in September this year.

A young golden eagle in Scotland. Photo: Ruth Tingay

Both of these areas have long been identified as raptor persecution hotspots. I’ll come back to this news shortly.

Here is a copy of RSPB Scotland’s press release:

Charity asks MSPs to support grouse moor licensing legislation as news emerges of further “suspicious disappearances” of protected raptors.

RSPB Scotland is urging Members of the Scottish Parliament to support new legislation to regulate grouse shooting after a new report was published by the RSPB today. The 2022 Birdcrime report highlights the continued illegal killing of Scotland’s birds of prey and the ongoing link between these crimes and land being managed intensively for driven grouse shooting.

In 2022, there were 61 confirmed bird of prey persecution incidents across the UK. As well as incidents for Scotland, the report revealed that 35 satellite-tagged birds of prey suspiciously disappeared on Scotland’s grouse moors from 2017 to 2022, including 8 Golden Eagles, 21 Hen Harriers and 5 White-tailed Eagles.

Duncan Orr-Ewing, RSPB Scotland’s Head of Species and Land Management said: “Despite welcome improvements to legislation from successive Scottish Governments and very good partnership-working between Police Scotland, the National Wildlife Crime Unit, the Scottish SPCA and RSPB Investigations staff in following up incidents, clearly these actions have not been enough to protect our precious birds of prey.

“These crimes have continued for decades, because the chances of being caught are tiny, and even in the rare instances when the links to individuals or landholdings have been clear, sanctions imposed have proven to have had little effect in stopping criminal activity in many cases.

“A meaningful deterrent in the form of licensing of grouse shooting is now urgently required, including the sanction to stop or suspend grouse shooting if links between land management activities and raptor crimes are confirmed by Police Scotland and NatureScot. We are calling on our all MSPs to support the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill proposals now passing through the Scottish Parliament”.

The Scottish Government’s sharp focus on taking further action to stop raptor crimes began in 2016, when RSPB Scotland raised concerns about the suspicious disappearance, over several years, of multiple satellite-tagged Golden Eagles on grouse moors in the northern Monadhliath, in Inverness-shire. An independent Grouse Moor Management Group report (the “Werritty Review”) was subsequently commissioned by the Scottish Government, which confirmed that these birds were being systematically killed on some grouse moors.

Ian Thomson, RSPB Scotland’s Head of Investigations said: “As members of the Scottish Parliament prepare to debate the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill at Holyrood next week, they will be very concerned to hear that in late July this year, yet another satellite-tagged Golden Eagle vanished, in identical suspicious circumstances to its many predecessors, in this same intensively managed area of grouse moors in Inverness-shire.”

Just a few weeks later, in early September, a tagged Hen Harrier similarly disappeared, and is also presumed killed, in the Angus Glens, another area where some estates have a long history of confirmed raptor persecution incidents.

Ian Thomson continued: “This new legislation makes the undertaking of raptor persecution a significant business risk that, at last, will be a meaningful deterrent. Some criminals operating on Scotland’s grouse moors still think they are above the law. We hope the Scottish Parliament will show them that they are not by enacting this new legislation before the start of the grouse shooting season in August 2024”.

ENDS

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