Category: News

Festive SGA chairman still pressing for buzzard licensing

In his festive review of the year, Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association chairman Alex Hogg talks about rabbit killing, “positive messages” and tools in tool boxes (I’m sure no irony was intended). He ends his blog with this statement:

“We are also urging government to look again at the buzzard licensing. I strongly believe that Scotland’s wildlife would benefit enormously if the powers that be could make a start in managing our biodiversity rather than protecting it all the time!”

Lest we forget, the SGA also believes that “professional gamekeepers don’t poison raptors” and wonders, “will these very large creatures [sea eagles] differentiate between a small child and more natural quarry?” Not the sharpest tools in the toolbox, perhaps.

We’ve previously covered the issue of licences to kill raptors, extensively, including earlier attempts by both the SGA and Scottish landowners’ organisations (e.g. see here and here and links within) to persuade the government (and the general public) that these licenses are necessary. Fortunately, so far, these attempts have been thwarted, and not least because the criminal persecution of raptors continues with impunity within the game-shooting industry. No doubt we’ll be re-visiting this issue throughout 2012.

Alex Hogg’s festive SGA blog here

Confirmed – poisoned red kite was found in September

Further to the last blog entry (here), the RSPB has now issued a press release about the poisoned red kite:

Journey’s end as red kite is found poisoned

Police are appealing for information after one of North Scotland’s most adventurous red kites was found poisoned in Ayrshire.

Shortly after fledging on the Black Isle this summer, the young bird surprised RSPB Scotland staff by immediately flying two hundred miles in just a few days.

A satellite transmitter fitted to its back, made it possible to chart the young bird’s journey down the west coast of Scotland. However, staff became concerned in September when transmissions in the Muirkirk area showed the bird had remained in the same place for several days.

It was later discovered dead close to the Muirkirk and North Lowther Hills Special Protection Area (SPA), an area of moorland that receives special legal protection because of its breeding bird of prey population.

Subsequent tests by the SASA government laboratory showed it had been poisoned by a banned pesticide.

RSPB Scotland Investigations Officer Ian Thomson said “The poisoning of this red kite is just the latest incident of bird of prey persecution in and around the SPA. Every year, breeding hen harriers and peregrines ‘disappear’ with further evidence of human interference causing nest failures. The populations of both species are declining alarmingly in this area. Only a few years ago there were 21 pairs of hen harriers in the SPA; now we are down to a mere handful”.

Enquiries by the police are continuing. Anyone with further information regarding this incident is urged to contact Strathclyde Police on 0141 532 2000, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

We understand the poisoned red kite was this one (see here).

Interesting. I wonder if this is the same red kite reported in the incident in November (see here)? Although that publicity said a kite had been found in the Lowther Hills in Dumfries & Galloway, not Ayrshire. Maybe two kites have been poisoned in this area? It’s hard to tell with this level of undetailed information and delayed reporting.

The chances of catching anyone now? A big fat zero. Never mind, the way this industry continues to flout the law,  it won’t be long before mandatory estate licensing is forced upon them.

Red kite found poisoned in Ayrshire

News is coming in that a satellite-tagged red kite from Northern Scotland has been found dead in Ayrshire. Lab tests done by SASA have reportedly shown that this young bird was poisoned by an illegal pesticide. 

We are led to believe this kite was discovered in September. If this turns out to be an accurate report, questions need to be asked about the delayed reporting.

More on this when details have been confirmed…

UPDATE: this has now been confirmed (see here)

All I want for Christmas is…

Here’s a Christmas sing-a-long for all our readers (to the tune of Maria Carey’s xmas hit, ‘All I want for Christmas’) –

I don’t want a lot for Xmas

There is just one thing I need

Permission to kill native raptors

Give it to the men in tweed

We just want a licence to cull

Use a stick to crush their skulls

Oh make my wish come true

Baby all I want for Xmas is to kill a few

I won’t ask for much this Xmas

I don’t want a lot of presents

All I want is to kill the raptors

So we can shoot a lot more pheasants

Poison them with tainted bait

Won’t take long to seal their fate

Oh make my wish come true

Baby all I want for Xmas is to kill a few

I don’t want a lot for Xmas

This is all I’m asking for

And even if the answer is ‘no’

We’ll still kill them, that’s for sure

Bury them in rabbit holes

Nobody need ever know

Oh make my dreams come true

Baby all I want for Xmas is to kill a few

(repeat ad nauseum until all raptors are dead)

“Moorland Scotland – we can all take pride in it”, apparently

“Moorland Scotland – we can all take pride in it“. This is the remarkable statement made by Lord Hopetoun in today’s Scotsman newspaper. 

You may remember we featured this laird’s letter-writing talents in September, after he had written to the Environment Minister Stewart Stevenson asking for ‘an expression of Government support’ for the grouse management industry (see here), but what looked to us like a back-door attempt to over-turn the new law on vicarious liability (see here). In today’s article, he stays on the same subject [the grouse shooting industry] but attempts to convince a wider audience – readers of The Scotsman – that the industry is “an outstanding Scottish success“.

He goes on: “The contribution grouse moors also make in terms of biodiversity should also not be underestimated“, and, “When it comes to talking about world-class Scotland, we hear plenty of our whisky, golf, fishing and natural produce. The moorland management industry – and what it delivers – means it too has earned the right to be labelled world class“.

This industry has certainly earned the right to be labelled, but the label we’d give it wouldn’t be ‘world class’, it would be ‘international disgrace’. Something ‘we can all take pride in’? How about something that most of us are deeply ashamed of?

Scotsman article here

New book published on carbofuran & wildlife poisoning

A definitive reference book was published last month that provides a comprehensive guide to the use of the pesticide Carbofuran and its role in wildlife poisoning.

Written by a series of international contributors, this book includes detailed studies of how Carbofuran is made and applied, its acute toxicity to wildlife, how much and how long it takes to poison an animal, analytical methods of detection and strategies being implemented to prevent its use. It also contains a series of global case studies from Africa, India, Europe, Latin America, Canada and the United States. One chapter is devoted to the [illegal] use of Carbofuran to poison raptors in Scotland: ‘The effect of carbofuran poisoning and other illegal persecution methods on raptor populations in Scotland‘ (Ruth Tingay); ‘A landowner’s perspective on wildlife poisoning in Scotland’ (Douglas McAdam); ‘Monitoring carbofuran abuse in Scotland’ (Michael Taylor).

CARBOFURAN AND WILDLIFE POISONING: GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES AND FORENSIC APPROACHES. (2011). Editor: Ngaio Richards. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, UK.

ISBN 978-0-470-74523-6 (hardback)

From the publisher:

This cutting-edge title is one of the first devoted entirely to the issue of carbofuran and wildlife mortality. It features a compilation of international contributions from policy-makers, researchers, conservationists and forensic practitioners and provides a summary of the history and mode of action of carbofuran, and its current global use. It covers wildlife mortality stemming from legal and illegal uses to this point, outlines wildlife rehabilitation, forensic and conservation approaches, and discuss global trends in responding to the wildlife mortality.

The subject of carbofuran is very timely because of recent parallel discussions to withdraw and reinstate the insecticide in different parts of the world. Incidences of intentional and unintentional wildlife poisonings using carbofuran are undeniably on the rise, especially in Africa and India and gatherings of stakeholders are being organized and convened on a global basis. There is still a need to consolidate information on the different experiences and approaches taken by stakeholders. Carbofuran and Wildlife Poisoning is a comprehensive overview of global wildlife mortality, forensic developments and monitoring techniques and is a definitive reference on the subject.

It comprises of historical and current perspectives, contributions from key stakeholders in the issue of global wildlife poisonings with carbofuran, people on the ground who deal with the immediate and long-term ramifications to wildlife, those who have proposed or are working towards mitigative measures and solutions, those in contact with intentional or unintentional ‘offenders’, those who have adapted and developed forensic methodology and are gathering evidence.

Introduction and Table of Contents available here

Prolific egg thief jailed for fourth time

One of the UK’s most prolific wild bird egg thieves has today been sent back to jail for what is reportedly his fourth jail term for similar offences.

This time, Matthew Gonshaw (49) from London, was caught with almost 700 wild bird eggs and egg-collecting paraphenalia at his house, including eggs from Scottish golden eagles and ospreys, as well as peregrines and red kites.

At Thames Magistrates Court, Gonshaw admitted ten offences under the Wildlife & Countryside Act, including two counts of taking golden eagle eggs from sites on the Isle of Lewis in April 2010. He was sentenced to six months in prison.

Gonshaw will re-appear in court in February to find out if he will be subject to an anti-social behaviour order (ASBO), which would see him face a £20,000 fine and five years in jail if he commits more crimes.

Well done to the RSPB, Metropolitan Police and the CPS for a successful conviction.

BBC News article here

STV article here

Good photographs in Daily Mail article here

Scottish sea eagles reach plague proportions

Concern is growing across Scotland as it was revealed last night that the sea eagle population has now increased to 57 territorial pairs; this is up from 52 last year, prompting calls for a cull.

Albert Hogburn of the Modern Poisoners’ Society said: “It’s ridiculous. These things have been reintroduced without a thought for the safety of our children. They swarm around schools waiting for the lunch bell when there’s easy pickings to be had in the playground. Last week I saw 48 of them hiding behind the school gate. Something’s got to be done, they’ve reached plague proportions“.

Donald Spewing-Moore of the Royal Bird Protection Society said: “That man’s talking out of his arse“.

BBC news article here

Modern Poisoners’ Society website here

‘Bumper’ grouse season proves raptors aren’t having a ‘significant impact’

The 2011 grouse season closed on Saturday. According to an article in the Shooting Times, it’s been a “bumper season“, and, “many moor owners, keepers and shooters around the UK will be reflecting on one of their best years in decades” (see here for article).

In another review, this time just of the Scottish grouse season, Robert Rattray, head of CKD Galbraith’s Sporting Letting Department, comments on the performance of some well-known grouse moors (including Glenogil, Millden and Invercauld) and he writes: “The 2011 grouse season will be looked upon as one of the best in recent living memory, and in many instances a distinct improvement on the 2010 season, in itself regarded as one of the best seasons for a decade or more” (see here for his report).

All very interesting. So much for the supposed ‘significant impact’ of raptors on gamebirds, repeatedly trotted out by the gamekeeper and landowner associations in their quest to legalise persecution. If, as they claim, they are not already killing everything with a hooky beak that dares to even look at their grouse moor, then it seems to me that they’re managing to [legally] kill a record number of red grouse without having to go after the raptors. So what’s the problem?

Of course, there are some who’ll read this blog and will have a different perspective – that is, the 2011 grouse season was a ‘bumper’ one precisely because anything with a hooky beak in the vicinity of the grouse moors had already been killed off.

Environment Minister ‘answers’ question about the lost Langholm hen harriers

Following yesterday’s report that Elaine Murray MSP had asked the Scottish Executive for information about the young hen harriers from the Langholm Moor Demonstration Project (see here), Environment Minister Stewart Stevenson has provided a response:

S4W-04336 Elaine Murray: To ask the Scottish Executive what information it has regarding the number of hen harriers that have been satellite tagged as part of the Langholm Moor Demonstration Project and what is known about the whereabouts of those birds.

Stewart Stevenson: In 2010, three hen harriers were satellite tagged as part of the Langholm Moor Demonstration Project. All three have now stopped transmitting. One tag was recovered at Langholm, with no trace of the bird. The other two birds were tracked through southern Scotland, south west England and France and Spain. No tags or birds have been found.

In 2011, three birds were satellite tagged and all have now stopped transmitting. Transmissions were last received from south of Carlisle, in the Moorfoot Hills and France. No tags or birds have been found and there are no indications of the cause of the lost signals.

The life expectancy of the satellite tags used is between a few months to around three years. While live, the tags provide valuable information on hen harrier range and dispersal.

(Link to parliamentary questions and answers here)

It’s a shame the Environment Minister didn’t elaborate further, although he was probably just reciting the information he’d been given, possibly from government advisors at SNH or maybe from Natural England, who are responsible for the satellite tag data from Langholm. Could the lack of transparency be because two of the locations (in the Moorfoot Hills and in the Northern Pennines to the south east of Carlisle) from where the last known signals were transmitted, just happen to be grouse moors? And not just any old grouse moors. One grouse moor with a long history of alleged raptor persecution (dead raptors and poisoned bait found on different occasions but no convictions) and one grouse moor with a head keeper and under keeper convicted of raptor persecution (pole trapping and inproper storage and use of a pesticide). One of these estates has already been named on the Raptor Politics website (see here and here).

Is it just an unfortunate coincidence that the signals from these two young hen harriers failed after they were tracked to these two moors? It could well be. But it’s very hard to be optimistic when we hear that the hen harrier in England is just four precious nests away from extinction (see here).

Perhaps one of these days the Langholm Project officials will deem us all worthy of knowing all the facts about this publicly-funded project, which would allow us all to draw our own conclusions instead of being spoon-fed a clearly sterilised version of events.

Perhaps you don’t want to wait for something that might never happen though. In which case, you can email the Natural England spokesperson for the Langholm Project (press officer Emma Lusby) and ask her yourself: emma.lusby@naturalengland.org.uk