Category: News

Satellite-tagged hen harrier ‘Harmonia’ disappears in Yorkshire Dales National Park as persecution reaches six-year high

Yesterday I blogged about eight satellite-tagged hen harriers that have gone ‘missing’ / been killed this year since Natural England’s last update in May 2023; eight birds that Natural England somehow forgot to mention in its annual round up of the season (see here).

Today there’s another one to add to the list – a young bird called ‘Harmonia’ who was tagged as a chick this year by the RSPB on United Utilities-owned land in the Forest of Bowland AONB.

According to an RSPB blog published yesterday (here), Harmonia vanished in the Yorkshire Dales National Park at some point between June and September 2023, along with two other young female hen harriers that had also been tagged in Bowland this year (Hapit & Selena, whose suspicious disappearances were reported by the RSPB last month – here).

Yorkshire Dales National Park. Photo: Ruth Tingay

The RSPB hasn’t revealed any more detail about Harmonia’s suspicious disappearance at the moment, presumably because this incident is being investigated (or not!) by North Yorkshire Police, but the Yorkshire Dales National Park has long been recognised as a hotspot for the illegal killing of birds of prey (e.g. here) and an awful lot of satellite-tagged hen harriers seem to vanish there. By my reckoning at least 19 have ‘disappeared’ there since 2018, although this figure is the bare minimum – there are likely to be more but Natural England /North Yorkshire Police have withheld location details in many cases.

Harmonia brings the total number of ‘missing’/killed hen harriers (that are known about) to 21 this year, which is the equal highest number since brood meddling began in 2018. The grand total of ‘missing’/killed hen harriers since brood meddling began in 2018 is now 110 birds, and of those, 23 were brood meddled birds.

Data compiled by RPUK. *No hen harriers brood meddled in 2018 although licence was in place.

Earlier this year Natural England shamefully extended the brood meddling licence for a further two years (here), claiming that there was insufficient evidence to test whether attitudes within the grouse shooting industry had changed for the better towards hen harriers.

I’d argue that there are 110 pieces of evidence to demonstrate that attitudes have not changed for the better – indeed, I know of several more ‘missing’/dead hen harriers still to be reported in the public domain, which will take this year’s total well past 21 dead/missing birds, the highest level of persecution since the licence to brood meddle was issued in 2018.

I’ll add Harmonia and the eight other ‘missing’/killed hen harriers to the rolling list of victims, which last month stood at 101 ‘missing/killed birds and is now at 110.

How many more??

8 more satellite-tagged hen harriers vanish – Natural England ‘forgets’ to mention them in latest press release

On Saturday, Natural England published a press release providing details about this year’s hen harrier breeding season, including the latest results of its so-called ‘scientific trial’ of hen harrier brood management, which many of us refer to as brood meddling – a conservation sham sanctioned by DEFRA as part of its ludicrous ‘Hen Harrier Action Plan‘ and carried out by Natural England, in cahoots with grouse moor owners, the very industry responsible for the species’ catastrophic decline in England (more info here and here).

Hen Harrier photo by Andreas Gullberg

As we’ve come to expect from Natural England, they spun a positive story about an increase in hen harrier breeding success this year (36 successful nests, up from 34 last year) and proclaimed ‘there are now more Hen Harriers nesting in England than at any point since they were lost as a breeding species around 200 years ago‘. That’s true, but given that England has sufficient habitat to host an estimated 330 breeding pairs, the breeding population is currently at an estimated 10.9% of what it could/should be, thanks to the illegal killing of this species on land managed for grouse shooting.

The press release does acknowledge that hen harrier persecution remains an ongoing issue on many driven grouse moors, and includes a link to the important 2019 scientific paper by Murgatroyd et al showing the extent of these crimes, but doesn’t include reference to the more recent paper by Ewing et al (2023) which shows hen harrier annual survival rates are appallingly low, especially among birds under one year old (males: 14%; females: 30%), with illegal killing accounting for the deaths of 27-41% of birds under one year, and 75% of mortality in birds aged between one and two years. 

It’s fairly pointless to celebrate improved breeding success without balancing that against poor survival rates. But this is a game Natural England plays routinely, giving very high prominence to breeding success without providing the same amount of publicity about persecution levels (e.g. see this conversation from 2021).

I’ve written before (here) how I think Natural England is utterly compromised on reporting about hen harriers, largely because Natural England has entered into a written contract with one of the shooting organisations whereby NE receives £75,000 over a period of three years (until 2024) in return for not making “any derogatory remarks” about the shooting organisation in relation to hen harriers (see here).

At the end of Natural England’s latest press release/blog, it says this:

‘As this blog goes to press the Police are actively investigating the deliberate killing of two brood-managed hen harriers, though we have been asked to give no further details at this time. These incidents hit our staff on the ground hard and can only detract from the efforts we and the partners we are working with to restore these special birds to our uplands‘.

What is doesn’t say, is that eight more satellite-tagged hen harriers have ‘vanished’ since NE’s last update in May 2023, and in total this year, of the 20 ‘missing’/illegally killed hen harriers, nine of them are brood meddled birds.

There’s quite a discrepancy between two and eight birds! Why have those eight most recent birds not been included in the press release? The data are provided in Natural England’s latest spreadsheet on the fate of tagged birds (here) but NE has deliberately chosen not to highlight them in its publicity drive. Why is that?

Is it because to do so would mean Natural England has to talk about the fact that since its brood meddling trial began in 2018, at least 109 hen harriers have gone ‘missing’/been illegally killed, most of them on or close to driven grouse moors?

The details (from the NE spreadsheet) of the latest eight ‘missing’ birds are provided below. I will add them to the rolling list of (now 109) missing/killed birds later today, but not until I’ve blogged about yet more ‘missing’ birds that the RSPB has just reported, which takes the total above 109 birds.

Here are the eight birds that have gone since the last update from NE in May 2023 – note, there hasn’t been a single press release/appeal for information from either NE or any of the police forces involved in these investigations:

Tag #203004, male, brood meddled in 2020 (name: R1-M2-20). Last known fix 12 June 2023 on a grouse moor in Co. Durham (grid ref: NY976322).

Tag #55144, female, brood meddled in 2020 (name: R2-F2-20). Last known fix 29 July 2023 at a confidential site in the North Pennines. Notes from the NE spreadsheet: “Dead. Recovered – awaiting PM results. Final transmission location temporarily withheld at police request“.

Tag #213922, male, brood meddled in 2021 (name: R2-M1-21). Last known fix 11 June 2023 at a confidential site in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Notes from the NE spreadsheet: “Final transmission location temporarily withheld at police request“.

Tag #213932, male, brood meddled in 2022 (name: R2-M3-22). Last known fix 31 May 2023 in Northumberland (grid ref: NY765687).

Tag #201124a, female, (name: ‘Rubi’), tagged 27 June 2023 in Co. Durham. Last known fix 6 July 2023 on a grouse moor in Co. Durham (grid ref: NY911151).

Tag #55154a, female, brood meddled in 2023 (name: R1-F1-23). Last known fix 23 July 2023 on a grouse moor in Co. Durham (close to where ‘Rubi’ vanished), grid ref: NY910126.

Tag #55155a, female, brood meddled in 2023 (name: R1-F2-23). Last known fix 24 August 2023 at a confidential site in Northumberland. Notes from the NE spreadsheet: “Final transmission location temporarily withheld at police request“.

Tag #201118a, female, brood meddled in 2023 (name: R3-F1-23). Last known fix 11 August 2023 in Co. Durham (grid ref: NZ072136).

David Scott convicted of ‘catalogue of animal abuse’ whilst employed as Head Gamekeeper at Cabrach Estate

A man has been convicted of carrying out a ‘catalogue of animal abuse’ whilst employed as the Head Gamekeeper at Cabrach Estate in Morayshire.

David Scott, 34, appeared at Elgin Sheriff Court on 15 September to answer charges relating to the alleged neglect of 14 working dogs whilst he was employed as Head Gamekeeper at Cabrach Estate between 27 July and 22 September 2022.

The dogs were found during an Scottish SPCA raid at his home address on the estate after a tip off about the alleged conditions in which he was keeping his dogs. Full details are provided below about the appalling lack of care and all 14 dogs were seized by the SSPCA, provided with urgent veterinary attention and have since been re-homed.

Scott had also been charged with training a male black and tan dog called Boysie to fight and had videoed those fights, said to have taken place at his home address on the estate, on his phone and shared them with others. The Fiscal agreed to drop this charge and another charge that alleged that, whilst at Cabrach and Glenfiddich Estate on 13 July 2022, David Scott let his dog attack a fox that had been caught in a snare.

It’s not clear to me why the Crown agreed to drop the animal fighting charges as part of a plea bargain and instead chose to just accept guilty pleas to the neglect charges. Plea bargaining happens in many criminal cases as a way of avoiding a costly trial, but it’s usually the minor charges that are dropped, not the more serious allegations. The Crown Office isn’t obliged to provide an explanation for its decision.

According to an article by a court reporter from the Press & Journal, the sentencing went as follows:

‘On sentencing, Sheriff Robert McDonald said Scott had “failed to keep a grip” on his animals, adding: “No matter how bad your life is, your animals still need looking after. The dogs don’t care. If things are tough, you should make arrangements for them.

“I am conscious of your employment and that you may be around dogs when out on a shoot. I have the power to impose a custodial sentence or a £20,000 fine.

“However, I have taken this into account and take a serious view and will impose a fine.”

Scott was fined £1,275 and banned from owning more than two dogs for a period of three years‘.

The P&J article also reported that Scott had ‘lost his position as head gamekeeper after the raid and had been “demoted sideways”, whilst still earning a salary of £40,000 plus accommodation worth £15,000 per annum‘. According to my local sources he now works as a ‘handyman’ on the estate.

Cabrach Estate will be familiar to long-term blog readers. In 1998, a joint RSPB and Police investigation recorded ten persecution incidents between February and May. These included the discovery of 24 poisoned baits (ten rabbits, six pigeons, six grouse and two hares) that had been laid out on the hill. Three illegal pole traps were also found on the estate as well as an owl with legs that had been smashed in a trap. A dead peregrine was also discovered in the back of the head gamekeeper’s Land Rover – tests revealed it had been poisoned with Carbofuran. The head gamekeeper was convicted (for possession of the dead peregrine) and fined £700 (see here) but prosecutions for the other offences were not forthcoming, presumably due to the difficulty of identifying an individual culprit.

In April 2006 another gamekeeper on this estate was filmed shooting two buzzards that had been caught inside a crow cage trap. After he’d shot them he hid them inside a nearby rabbit hole. He was convicted and fined a pathetic £200 (see here). What wasn’t mentioned in court was that the corpses of another eleven shot buzzards had been retrieved during the investigation from nearby rabbit holes (see here).

And in 2017, the Crown Office dropped a long-running investigation into the alleged shooting of a hen harrier on Cabrach in 2013, caught on camera by the RSPB (see here). This resulted in widespread public fury and questions were asked at First Minister’s Question Time.

Here’s the article from the Press & Journal:

David Scott, 34, appeared at Elgin Sheriff Court accused of neglecting 14 dogs in his care between July 27 and September 22 2022.

The Crown accepted a not guilty plea from his wife, Gillian, and an amended guilty plea from her husband.

The court heard Scott had been head gamekeeper at Carbrach and Glenfiddich Estates until the raid on his home in September last year.

Fiscal depute Karen Poke said the SSPCA’s special investigation unit had received a tip-off about the welfare of animals being kept by the Scotts during August 2022.

“Due to the immediate and real concern of the nature of the reports,” she said. “The police attended the property on September 7.”

She told the court that what had been found was three “wet, extremely dirty” and “totally unacceptable” kennel blocks, each without any sleeping areas for the dogs.

“There was a strong smell of faeces and urine abundant throughout the kennels,” Mrs Poke went on. “There were no dry areas for the dogs to lie down and no evidence of any dog food.”

The officers, the court heard, found a barrel full of rotten meat and fish and it was suggested this is what the dogs were being fed.

All 14 dogs were removed to the care of the SSPCA and were said to have been “suffering and in distress”.

Scott, who lives with his wife at Bridgehaugh in Dufftown, admitted causing unnecessary suffering and pain to dogs by not seeking veterinary treatment or providing them with essential care.

As part of the plea bargain, a not guilty plea to a charge that Scott trained a male black and tan dog called Boysie to fight and supplied videos of his brawls was accepted by the Crown.

The dogfights were said to have taken place at the home address.

Another offence, whilst at Carbrach and Glenfiddich Estate on July 13 2022, of snaring a fox and letting his dog attack it, was also dropped.

14 dogs were neglected in total

Among the dogs alleged to have been abused were:

Ellie, a female harrier-type dog, who suffered an ear mite infection for weeks without getting treatment.

Babatoots, a female spaniel who also had infected ears and gums for weeks without medical help.

Toots, another female spaniel who suffered from infections of the ears and gums.

Sadie, a female spaniel who had chronic ear infections and conjunctivitis.

In total, he was said to have neglected 14 dogs and was charged with “failing to ensure a suitable environment by way of comfortable and clean resting areas, a suitable diet” causing “suffering, injury and disease”.

Defence counsel Callum Anderson said the couple had been going through a “difficult period” in their lives at the time of the police raid.

He said Scott had accepted the conditions were “awful” and said the kennels had become so wet due to a “torrential storm” the night before.

Mr Anderson said Mrs Scott still owns two dogs as family pets and said the lapse was due to “dramatic circumstances”, including the death of her father and a medical issue around the date of the offences.

“They accept they were not dealing with matters at that time. That is the reason why veterinary treatment was neglected,” he said.

Scott, the court heard, had lost his position as head gamekeeper after the raid and had been “demoted sideways”, whilst still earning a salary of £40,000 plus accommodation worth £15,000 per annum.

“He recognises it was not acceptable and lessons have been learned,” Mr Anderson said.

On sentencing, Sheriff Robert McDonald said Scott had “failed to keep a grip” on his animals, adding: “No matter how bad your life is, your animals still need looking after. The dogs don’t care. If things are tough, you should make arrangements for them.

“I am conscious of your employment and that you may be around dogs when out on a shoot. I have the power to impose a custodial sentence or a £20,000 fine.

“However, I have taken this into account and take a serious view and will impose a fine.”

Scott was fined £1,275 and banned from owning more than two dogs for a period of three years.

ENDS

Gamekeepers using night vision goggles to shoot roosting golden eagles & hen harriers, claims RSPB

Gamekeepers in Scotland are using night vision goggles to shoot roosting golden eagles & hen harriers, according to Ian Thomson, Head of Investigations at RSPB Scotland, who has been quoted in an article published by the Mail on Sunday on 10th September.

Conservationists have long suspected this to be the case on certain estates, where the eagles’ satellite tag data have shown their sudden ‘disappearance’ from known roost trees at odd times of the night, never to be seen or heard from again. We know that gamekeepers routinely use night vision equipment for fox-shooting – the equipment is often advertised in the shooting press – so it’s not a stretch to think that some of them are also using this equipment for targeting and killing sleeping birds of prey.

Note also that Ian mentions a number of current police investigations into satellite-tagged raptors that have ‘disappeared’….news on those soon…there are a lot.

Here’s the article:

Is DEFRA can-kicking the decision to phase out use of toxic lead ammunition by gamebird shooters?

Earlier this week I wrote (here) about how the DEFRA Secretary of State, Therese Coffey, is preparing to make a decision about the phasing out of toxic lead ammunition; a welcome move after years and years of the Westminster Government ignoring the scientific evidence about the poisonous effects of toxic lead ammunition on wildlife, the environment and human health.

Her decision will be based on a dossier of options currently being prepared by the Health & Safety Executive (HSE), which was commissioned by DEFRA to undertake this work in Spring 2021.

HSE published its proposals in May 2022 and opened a six-month public consultation. However, in January 2023, HSE announced a six-month extension to its review of the consultation responses, pleading that it needed more time as it had been ‘overwhelmed’ by the number of responses, which I understand included a large volume of objections from those within the game-shooting industry.

As DEFRA Minister and gamebird shooter Richard Benyon told Green peer Natalie Bennett earlier this year in response to a Parliamentary question about the continued use of toxic lead ammunition (here), ‘the HSE’s final opinions are now due by 6th November 2023 and the DEFRA Secretary of State is required to make a decision within three months of receipt of the opinions’.

However, rumour has it that the HSE and DEFRA will not be able to fulfil their legal obligations to deliver this on time.

As I understand it from a well-informed blog reader, HSE is legally obliged to deliver its options by 6th November 2023. HSE is also legally obliged to have published the draft of the opinions and held a 60-day consultation on it before formulating the opinion. They have already  done the public consultation on the risk assessment, but were due to publish the draft socio-economic assessment and other parts of the opinion on 6th August 2023. HSE said that this document would be published on 6th August. It hasn’t been published yet. HSE told key stakeholders (i.e. shooters and conservation organisations) in confidence in August that publication had been delayed by unforeseen ‘clearance’ issues. The public consultation cannot begin until the draft is published.

I don’t know what those unforeseen ‘clearance’ issues are, but given that there are only 54 days to go until 6th November, it looks like what DEFRA Minister Richard Benyon told Natalie Bennett is no longer deliverable. Perhaps Natalie will ask him what those ‘unforeseen clearance’ issues are.

It’s anticipated that DEFRA will authorise yet further delay to the process to enable HSE to formulate its final opinions after 6th November 2023. How much of a delay remains to be seen – it depends on what those ‘clearance’ issues are, I guess, but this can-kicking looks likely to extend well into 2024 and perhaps will coincide with a General Election.

That could be interesting.

UPDATE 11.10hrs: Natalie Bennett has now lodged a written Parliamentary question about this.

UPDATE 4th Oct 2023: Minister confirms further delay on making decision whether to phase out use of toxic lead ammunition by gamebird shooters (here).

‘Licensing is the least the brutal grouse shooting industry should expect’ – statement from REVIVE, the coalition for grouse moor reform

There’s been some media coverage today about how ‘nearly 400 rural businesses’ have written a letter to Environment Minister Gillian Martin about their ‘opposition’ to the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Bill currently making its way through Parliament – this is the Bill that intends to regulate grouse moor management and provide penalties for those who continue to break the law, e.g. by killing birds of prey and deliberately setting fire to heather on areas of deep peat.

The media coverage stems from a press release put out by Scottish Land & Estates (SLE), the grouse moor owners’ lobby group in Scotland. There’s a copy of that press release at the foot of this blog, although interestingly, I haven’t found a copy of the actual letter or the names of its nearly 400 signatories.

I’d really like to see it because the last time SLE pulled a publicity stunt like this (in 2010, under their former name of SRPBA), 200 landowners/shooting estate owners wrote to the then Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham, expressing their condemnation of illegal raptor poisoning (here), in response to public concern about ongoing illegal raptor persecution. However, when the list of signatories was scrutinised, it turned out that raptor persecution incidents had been recorded on some of those signatories’ estates and some of their employees even had criminal convictions for raptor persecution crimes (here).

Indeed, 13 years later, one of the signatories of the 2010 letter (Invercauld Estate in the Cairngorms National Park) is currently serving a three-year sanction imposed by NatureScot following the discovery in 2021 of a poisoned golden eagle and poisoned baits on the estate (see here).

I think it’s important, for the sake of transparency, that the current list of signatories is scrutinised and that’s why I’ve lodged an FoI request today with the Scottish Government asking to see a copy of the letter and the signatories.

Meanwhile, REVIVE, the coalition for grouse moor reform, has responded to SLE’s latest PR stunt with the following statement, sent out to news editors this afternoon:

In the recent publicity about calls from ‘rural businesses’ (fewer than 400) for licencing of grouse moors to be watered down, the economic contribution of grouse shooting appears to be intentionally blown out of proportion. This letter organised by Scottish Land and Estates, the lobbying group for Scotland’s largest shooting estate owners, completely misjudges the mood of Scotland’s people towards their archaic activity – the harming of animals for sport shooting and the practices that sustain it.

The very fact that such a destructive land use which depends on the killing of hundreds of thousands of animals, the mass chemical medication of grouse and the burning of huge swathes of Scotland hasn’t even required a licence until now is almost beyond comprehension.

That Scottish Land and Estates and their contacts are trying to thwart a pragmatic and decades overdue Bill highlights their true intention: to halt any change at their expense that can make our country better. What’s more, their letter signatories don’t even register as half a percent of rural Scotland’s business base and, although we haven’t seen the list of signatures, will have a strong proportion of large landed interests signed up.

The economic contribution of grouse shooting is actually small, considering all the land it uses up, and is regularly conflated by the industry with all field sports activities in Scotland. Grouse shooting is estimated to add £23 Million (GVA) to the economy. If Scotland’s economy was the height of Ben Nevis, grouse shooting’s contribution would be the size of a bottle of Irn Bru. Outdoor tourism, excluding field sports, contributed over 50 times more to the economy than grouse shooting (over £1.2 Billion), the jobs in grouse shooting are dwarfed by forestry (commercial and otherwise) and wildlife tourism (shooting animals with cameras instead of guns).

Licencing is the least that this brutal industry should expect and the Scottish Government is wholly correct for pursuing it. Those who do not depend on its most unsustainable, and in some cases illegal, practices should have little to fear from it. Many believe of course that the most intensive driven grouse shooting estates depend on unsustainable practices. Perhaps this is why they are fighting so hard to stop any much needed progress.

Max Wiszniewski, Campaign Manager for REVIVE

ENDS

Here’s a copy of SLE’s press release:

11 September 2023

400 Rural Businesses Voice Opposition to Grouse Shooting Licensing Plans

Nearly 400 businesses have joined together to urge the Scottish Government to avoid a ‘disastrous and irreversible’ outcome for rural Scotland from its plans to licence grouse shooting.

Butchers, hotels, tradespeople, farms and upland estates are amongst those to have written to Environment Minister, Gillan Martin MSP, seeking changes to be made to the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill, currently at stage 1 in the Scottish Parliament.

The game and country sports sector is worth over £350m per year to the Scottish economy. Over 11,000 full time jobs are supported by sporting shooting, often in rural areas where alternative sources of employment are scarce.

The letter urges the government to amend punitive and flawed provisions within the draft Bill that would render any licensing scheme disproportionate and unworkable, ultimately disincentivising investment in nature conservation as well as local businesses and jobs.

The main areas of concern, which are described in the letter as “fatal flaws” that will create “a climate of business uncertainty, exacerbated by a total lack of procedural safeguards for licence holders”, are:

  • The proposed licence duration of only one year, which would provide no long-term business certainty while also creating an administrative burden for estates and the government’s nature body, NatureScot, who will be tasked with operating the licensing scheme;
  • The broad discretionary power of NatureScot to decide whether or not it is “appropriate” to grant a licence, again providing a complete deficit of certainty for business;
  • The power NatureScot would have to suspend licences – even when it is not satisfied that a relevant offence has been committed – which is described in the letter as being “wide open to exploitation” and something that “would inevitably be subject to legal challenge”;
  • The wide range of offences – not just raptor persecution – that could lead to a licence being modified, suspended or revoked, which is described in the letter as being “disproportionate, unreasonable, completely unsupported by empirical evidence and would inevitably be subject to legal challenge”.

Ross Ewing, Director of Moorland at Scottish Land & Estates, said: “If the proposed licensing scheme is introduced without amendments, then it would be disastrous – not only for moorland estates; but also for the broad range of businesses and communities that rely on them across rural Scotland.

“Scottish Government commissioned research has shown that, compared to other upland land uses, grouse shooting provides: the greatest number of jobs per hectare; the highest levels of local and regional spending; and the greatest levels of investment per hectare without public subsidy. The Scottish Government will jeopardise this if it does not bring forward amendments that will provide certainty to businesses and legal safeguards for licence holders. 

“We believe that – by working with us on the suggestions set out in this letter – the Scottish Government will be able to achieve its policy objective, without running the risk of fatally damaging a vital rural sector. We very much hope they will be willing to constructively engage.”

Mike Smith, owner of the Tay House which provides sporting accommodation in Dunkeld, said: “As the owner of a business with a significant reliance on visitors who come to Scotland to shoot grouse, I am alarmed by contents of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill and the obvious adverse impact it will have on investment in moorland management for grouse shooting.

“Country sports are an integral part of the rural economy, and provide businesses like mine with a much needed boost beyond the conventional summer tourism season. To see the Scottish Government playing Russian roulette with rural businesses and livelihoods in this way is frankly unconscionable. It is not difficult to see why grouse moor owners are looking at licensing scheme with trepidation, especially when licences can be suspended without satisfying any burden of proof whatsoever. The scheme is ripe for vexatious influence.

“Government ministers must listen to the widespread concern of businesses that are the backbone of Scotland’s rural economy, and take urgent action to bring forward amendments that will make the scheme workable. Should they fail to do so, the consequences for businesses like mine would be disastrous.”

Graeme McNeil, owner of Graeme McNeil Decorating based in Brechin, said: “As a business owner who benefits from a significant amount of trade from estates in the Angus Glens, I cannot overstate how worried I am about the potential implications of this Bill.

“If the government introduce measures that will ultimately disincentivise investment in grouse shooting, the knock-on implications for businesses like mine could be huge. Many local businesses are reliant on estates that shoot grouse, and we all stand to be adversely impacted if the investment is in any way compromised.”

Mark Tyndall, owner of the Horseupcleugh Farm in the Lammermuirs, said: “There is deep-seated concern among rural farms and estates about the total lack of procedural safeguards within the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill, as well as the disproportionate nature of several provisions outlined in our letter.

“The Scottish Government must see that the Bill, in its present form, goes way further than is required to address the policy aim of reducing raptor persecution. Furthermore there are significant questions over whether the bill is compliant with the European Convention on Human Rights.

“We sincerely hope that the Scottish Government is willing to address the problems with this Bill and avoid protracted litigation, so that moorland management can continue to deliver biodiversity gains as well as a sustainable rural economy with unparalleled levels of employment and investment, all at virtually no cost to the public purse.”

ENDS

Some media reports today have included a statement of response from the Scottish Government, as follows:

A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “We recognise the valuable contribution that grouse shooting makes to our rural economy and the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill is not about preventing this activity.

“But it is clear that grouse moors must be managed in a sustainable and responsible way that minimises environmental impacts and helps to protect nature and wildlife.

“The provisions in the bill provide for a practical, proportionate and targeted licensing regime which will support those carrying out activities appropriately and in line with the law, and will have consequences for those that don’t.”

Nice try, grouse shooters, but it looks your days of unregulated, unsustainable, and in some cases, unlawful activity are numbered. Nobody believes the rhetoric anymore.

UPDATE 5th October 2023: Rural businesses’ letter to Environment Minister opposing grouse moor licensing plans – some ‘interesting’ signatories (here)

New study shows significant unlawful behaviour by shotgun users in Scotland, illegally using toxic lead ammunition over wetlands 18 years after its use was banned

In news that will come as no surprise whatsoever, a new study has revealed that toxic lead ammunition is still being used widely to shoot birds in coastal intertidal and riparian habitats across Scotland, even though its use was banned in these habitats 18 years ago.

Photo: Brian Morrell, WWT

The new study, which has just been published in the journal Conservation Evidence, analysed discarded shotgun cartridges at various wetland locations and found that approximately half appeared to contain lead shot, which hasn’t been permitted for use over Scottish wetlands since 2005.

The ban on using lead shotgun ammunition over wetlands was introduced to try and reduce the amount of lead poisoning in wetland birds and the subsequent poisoning of predators that might scavenge the shot birds, particularly certain raptor species (e.g. see here and here).

Here’s the summary of the study (full paper available at the foot of this blog):

Similar legislation (with slight variations) was introduced in England in 1999 after a voluntary ban on the use of lead shotgun ammunition over wetlands failed.

However, a number of studies since that new legislation was introduced (see here) have shown high levels of non-compliance with the law, for example 68% non-compliance in 2001-2002; 70% non-compliance with the law in 2008-2009 & 2009-2010; and 77-82% non-compliance with the law in 2013-2014.

Another study published in 2021 concluded that since the regulations were introduced in England in 1999, an estimated 13 million ducks have been shot illegally using lead shotgun ammunition, with an annual average of approximately 586,000 ducks, representing approximately 70% of the total ducks shot (see here).

Tellingly, this 2015 paper that included the findings of a questionnaire survey of shooters’ behaviour and attitudes revealed that one of the main reasons for non-compliance with the law was the shooters believed they “were not going to get caught” i.e. shooters knew that using lead ammunition would not involve penalties as the law is not enforced. This is a really common feature of wildlife crime in general, but particularly raptor persecution crimes, which I’ve written about before (e.g. here). It doesn’t matter how stiff the penalty is, if the offender thinks there’s little to no chance of being caught then it’s worth the risk of committing the crime.

The 13 million illegally shot ducks also provide an excellent example of why it’s idiotic to calculate the extent of a crime based on the number of convictions (as Professor Simon Denny tried to do in his recent ‘truly objective‘ claim that raptor persecution isn’t a widespread issue on grouse moors – see here). If we classify every one of those shot ducks as a separate crime, there has only ever been one successful prosecution out of a potential 13 million crimes (and that prosecution only happened because the offender shot a swan in front of witnesses, mistaking it for a goose whilst on a pheasant shoot in North Yorkshire). One conviction from 13 million crimes demonstrates quite clearly that a lack of prosecutions / convictions does not equate to a lack of crime!

It’s an important lesson for the Scottish Parliament as it considers the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Bill – if there is insufficient monitoring and enforcement accompanying the new legislation on grouse moor management practices, the offenders will continue to commit their crimes (i.e. killing birds of prey and lighting fires on deep peat) because they’ll know the chances of being caught are pretty slim.

The Westminster Government is currently considering a range of options for phasing out the use of lead ammunition (see here), after ignoring the overwhelming scientific evidence for years and instead choosing to support the shooting industry’s (then) refusal to get rid of toxic lead ammunition (e.g. see here and here).

Three years ago some (but not all) in the game-shooting industry realised the game was up and proclaimed a five-year voluntary phase-out of toxic lead ammunition (largely, I believe, because they didn’t want to have a ban enforced upon them). However, three years into that five-year phase out, things aren’t going too well (see here) and many UK supermarkets are still selling poisonous game meat to unsuspecting customers for both human consumption (here) and for pet food (here).

The HSE is due to report its recommendations about the use of toxic lead ammunition to Government by 6th November 2023. DEFRA Minister Richard Benyon told Green peer Natalie Bennett recently that the DEFRA Secretary of State ‘will be required to make a decision within three months of receipt of the opinions, with the consent of Welsh & Scottish Ministers‘ (see here).

Anything less than an immediate ban on the use of toxic lead ammunition for killing any species in any habitat (not just some species in some wetland habitats), will be challenged.

Here’s the full paper on the significant non-compliance of the law by shooters in Scotland, who are still using toxic lead shotgun ammunition to kill birds over wetlands, 18 years after it was banned. Well worth a read:

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UPDATE 13th September 2023: Is DEFRA can-kicking the decision to phase out use of toxic lead ammunition by gamebird shooters? (here)

Police in Derbyshire charge man for alleged disturbance of Peregrine nest & theft of eggs

Derbyshire Constabulary posted the following statement on social media yesterday:

“A suspect from Matlock has been charged with taking eggs of a Schedule 1 wild bird and disturbing the nesting site of a Schedule 1 wild bird following an incident at a Peregrine falcon nesting site at Bolsover, Derbyshire in April 2023. The suspect will appear at North East Derbyshire and Dales Magistrates Court in October“.

Peregrine falcon. Photo: Ben Hall, RSPB Images

There is further commentary on Derbyshire Constabulary social media where the individual is named as Christopher Wheeldon of Lime Grove, Darley Dale, Matlock. The 34-year-old has apparently been released on bail and is due to appear at Chesterfield Justice Centre on 16th October 2023.

PLEASE NOTE: As this is a live court case comments won’t be accepted until criminal proceedings have concluded. Thanks for your understanding.

UPDATE 16th October 2023: Man fails to attend court to face charges of alleged peregrine egg theft in Derbyshire (here)

UPDATE 22nd November 2023: Case adjourned for Christopher Wheeldon accused of alleged peregrine egg theft in Derbyshire (here)

UPDATE 16 January 2024: Derbyshire ‘drug addict’ jailed for stealing peregrine eggs (here)

Man in court accused of shooting & killing a goshawk at pheasant-rearing farm

A court hearing was adjourned this week in the case of a man accused of shooting and killing a goshawk at his pheasant-rearing farm in Wales.

Photo: Mike Warburton

Thomas Edward Jones, 38, is alleged to have shot and killed a goshawk at Pentre Farm in northern Powys in July 2022 where tens of thousands of pheasants are reportedly reared for the game shooting industry.

Appearing at Welshpool Magistrates Court on Tuesday 5th September, Jones confirmed his name, age and address but did not enter a plea.

The case will continue on 19th September 2023.

PLEASE NOTE: As this is a live court case comments won’t be accepted until criminal proceedings have concluded. Thanks for your understanding.

UPDATE 21 September 2023: Trial date set for man charged with killing goshawk at pheasant-rearing farm (here)

UPDATE 23 November 2023: New trial date for man accused of shooting & killing goshawk at pheasant-rearing farm (here)

UPDATE 7 December 2023: Trial discontinued for man accused of killing goshawk at pheasant-rearing farm in Wales (here)

Minister admits DEFRA is clueless about over-stocked duck ponds for shooting

In July I published a photo of a vegetation-free mud pit, ridiculously over-stocked with semi-tame reared ducks that were being fed with sack loads of barley to keep them at the pond so that paying clients can turn up from 1st September and blast them to smithereens for a bit of a laugh (here).

An over-stocked duck pond in the Scottish Borders. Photo supplied by a blog reader

I argued that the shooting of semi-tame ducks for ‘fun’ in the UK hasn’t attracted as much attention as pheasant and partridge shooting, probably due to the numbers (and thus environmental impact) involved (i.e. an estimated 60+ million non-native pheasants & partridges released annually in the UK compared with a vaguely estimated 3 million native mallards) but that it definitely deserves more scrutiny, especially in this avian-flu era.

Many thanks to Green Peer Natalie Bennett who read the blog and submitted a Parliamentary Question on this issue:

It was answered by DEFRA Minister (and gamebird shooter) Richard Benyon as follows:

What a surprise (not) to learn that DEFRA doesn’t have a clue how many ducks are reared and released for shooting, nor the conditions in which they live before being shot to pieces.

It doesn’t look like he has any plans to recommend a review, either.

Marvellous. There’s nothing quite like having a Minister with vested interests, is there?