Tag: gamekeeper

Moorland Association’s amateurish attempt to analyse Hen Harrier tag data is full of holes (much like a shot Hen Harrier)

The illegal killing of Hen Harriers on British grouse moors has been known, for years, to be the main cause of the species’ desperately low population size in the UK.

This male hen harrier died in 2019 after his leg was almost severed in an illegally set trap that had been placed next to his nest on a Scottish grouse moor (see here). Photo by Ruth Tingay

The sheer weight of scientific and police evidence, collected over several decades, has led to this fact being undisputed by successive Governments, statutory conservation agencies, the police’s National Wildlife Crime Unit, scientists, raptor workers, conservationists….in fact everyone, except for those representing the grouse shooting industry.

That shouldn’t surprise anyone. These crimes are a public relations disaster for the grouse shooting industry, more so than any other environmentally and socially damaging aspects of grouse moor management, of which there are many.

As grouse shooting has fallen under closer scrutiny over the last decade or so, and the threat of regulation looms large in England (and has already been introduced in Scotland), the grouse shooting industry has been in overdrive in its attempts to portray itself as being benign at worst, and ‘a conservation success story‘ at best. It has also gone to great lengths to try and discredit and smear the reputations of any organisation, or individual, who has dared to challenge this view.

So today’s latest effort, a so-called ‘analysis’ of Hen Harrier tag data, published by the Moorland Association (grouse owners’ lobby group in England), that purports to show that ‘missing’ tagged Hen Harriers probably haven’t been killed by grouse moor gamekeepers, shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone.

The Moorland Association has produced what it calls a ‘Comprehensive Satellite Tagging Register’, supposedly documenting the fates of 269 Hen Harriers from 2002 to part way through 2025. The title itself is a complete misnomer because the spreadsheet includes 99 Hen Harriers that were fitted with radio tags, not satellite tags, way back in the early to mid 2000s before satellite tags came to the fore.

The Moorland Association writes on its website,

“We are not asking anyone to take our word for any of it; we are asking them to check it“.

So I did.

It wasn’t a comprehensive check – it didn’t need to be. I simply looked at the data for several well known Hen Harriers and could immediately see that at least seven of them had incorrect information assigned to them. If that’s the level of incompetence, found with just a quick glance at the data, how on earth is anyone supposed to trust any subsequent ‘analysis’ of the data?!

The seven incorrect entries that were found very quickly are:

  1. Hen Harrier Bowland Beth (also known as Bowland Betty). The Moorland Association’s Register states her body wasn’t recovered, and neither was it submitted for post mortem. Actually, her body was recovered, on the Swinton Estate, North Yorkshire, and a post mortem was undertaken, revealing she had a fractured left leg which led to her death. A pioneering forensic examination followed, undertaken by scientists at the University College London Institute of Orthopaedics and Musculoskeletal Science, who found a tiny fragment of lead at the site of the fracture, confirming that she had been shot. According to the Countryside Alliance, this expert scientific evidence was just ‘supposition’ (see here).
  2. Hen Harrier Rowan (Hawk & Owl Trust tag). The Moorland Association’s Register states that Rowan’s body was recovered, but it wasn’t submitted for a post mortem. Actually, his body was submitted for a post mortem at the Zoological Society of London, whose expert vets concluded, “ … the bird’s injuries were entirely consistent with it having been shot“, despite the Hawk & Owl Trust (in bed with the grouse shooters at that time) claiming the findings were “not wholly conclusive” (see here).
Zoological Society of London radiograph showing Rowan’s fractured leg

3. Hen Harrier Free. The Moorland Association’s Register states that Free’s body wasn’t recovered and nor was it submitted for a post mortem. Actually, Free’s mutilated corpse was discovered, on moorland in the Yorkshire Dales National Park and it was submitted for a post mortem, which revealed the cause of death was having his head twisted and pulled off. One (ringed) leg had also been torn off whilst he was still alive (here).

4. Hen Harrier Asta. The Moorland Association’s Register states that Asta’s body wasn’t recovered and nor was it submitted for a post mortem. This is technically accurate, but her satellite tag was later found crudely attached to a Crow, in a sick ploy to disguise the crime, and it was determined that Asta’s wings must have been ripped off for the harness to have been removed intact from her body (here).

5. Hen Harrier Susie. The Moorland Association’s Register states that Susie’s body was not recovered and it was not submitted for a post mortem. Actually, Susie’s body was recovered, from a grouse moor in the North Pennines, and it was submitted for a post mortem, which revealed she’d been shot, although it couldn’t be determined if that was the cause of death (here).

6. Hen Harrier Edna. The Moorland Association’s Register states that Edna’s body was not recovered and it was not submitted for a post mortem. Actually, Edna’s body was recovered, and it was submitted for a post mortem, but it was too decomposed for the pathologist to determine a cause of death. The police still suspected she’d been illegally killed, and there are suggestions that her tag data had shown she’d been killed elsewhere and then transported to a windfarm to make it look as though she’d collided with a wind turbine (here).

7. Hen Harrier Margaret. The Moorland Association’s Register states that Margaret’s body was recovered but that it wasn’t submitted for a post mortem. Actually, Margaret’s body was not recovered, but her satellite tag was, and an examination revealed it had been ‘removed’ (here).

I’m sure if I looked harder I could find other examples of inaccurate data but there’s no need to spend any more time looking, because these initial seven are enough to render the Moorland Association’s ‘analysis’ as flawed.

It’s not clear who produced this spreadsheet for the Moorland Association because there isn’t a name attributed to it, which seems odd when the Moorland Association’s main tenet is that it is being transparent whereas the RSPB is not. Perhaps the author was Mr G. Keeper.

There’s also a ‘report’, to accompany the (flawed) data set. This document is hilarious, and it’s no wonder the author didn’t want their name on it. For a start, they’ve grouped together two very different types of tracker (radio tags and satellite tags) with an unqualified assumption that the outcomes are comparable without taking into consideration the massive number of variables between the two operating systems.

Inevitably, the report attacks the RSPB because the RSPB declined to share their satellite tag data with the Moorland Association. The author contends that this is because the RSPB has something to hide. Yeah, giving up highly sensitive data to the very industry that’s responsible for this species’ perilous conservation status makes perfect sense, right?

The author goes on to argue that the RSPB’s interpretation of its own data is flawed because the RSPB’s mapping resolution is too broad. Good grief. Does the author not understand that the RSPB’s analysis is based on a very high mapping resolution but that it only publishes low resolution data to protect sensitive information?!

Critical thinking is entirely absent from this report.

Moorland Assoc flawed HH sat tag analysis report_Dec2025Download

The Moorland Association’s accompanying blog to this ‘report’ claims that its ‘analysis’ challenges the findings of the Murgatroyd et al (2019) paper. That’s the paper that demonstrated that at least 72% of Hen Harriers satellite-tagged by Natural England were presumed to have been illegally killed on or close to driven grouse moors (see here). The Murgatroyd paper was published in one of the world’s top-rated peer-reviewed scientific journals:

The Murgatroyd paper was based on a comprehensive and complex statistical analysis of Hen Harrier satellite tag data. Funny, I didn’t find any statistical analysis in the Moorland Association’s anonymous ‘report’, just a multi-coloured word salad based on inaccurate data.

If the Moorland Association is so certain of its ‘analysis’, perhaps it will submit its findings to a peer-reviewed scientific journal?

Trial to resume of two Scottish gamekeepers relating to alleged shooting & killing of Red Kites in Cairngorms National Park

The trial of two Scottish gamekeepers, accused of offences relating to the alleged shooting and killing of Red Kites in the Cairngorms National Park in February 2025, is set to resume next week.

Head gamekeeper Graeme Rankin and assistant gamekeeper Steven Hague have both denied the charges.

Red Kite. Photo by Ronnie Gilbert

The pair appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court for a four-day trial at the end of April 2025, after an earlier trial, scheduled for December 2025, was adjourned as the two defence lawyers, both KCs (Kings Counsel), lodged a motion suggesting the Sheriff should recuse himself from the hearing as he was an RSPB member (see here).

The four-day trial in April was extended because the court ran out of time to hear from all the witnesses. It will resume on Monday 15 June 2026.

NB: Comments are turned off as legal proceedings are still live.

Satellite-tagged White-tailed Eagle ‘disappeared’ on Snilesworth Estate, North York Moors National Park

Further to the news earlier this week that a young satellite-tagged White-tailed Eagle (known as G834) had ‘disappeared’ on 1st May in what the police describe as suspicious circumstances, on a grouse-shooting estate in the North York Moors National Park (see here), one of five satellite-tagged White-tailed Eagles to have vanished in recent months (here), it has now been revealed that his last known location was on the Snilesworth Estate.

This news didn’t come from the appeal for information issued by North Yorkshire Police last Monday – that vague appeal just gave the location as, ‘the western side of the North York Moors‘. Instead, the information has come from a lengthy feature article in this morning’s Guardian newspaper, written by Chief Reporter Daniel Boffey.

Photos by Ruth Tingay

Daniel Boffey visited the estate this week and was given short shrift by gamekeeper Charles Woof, who, when asked about the missing eagle, reportedly said:

“I don’t know anything about it” and “It’s private property, I am going to have to ask you to leave“.

The article refers to Woof’s 2008 conviction, where he admitted to using a baited trap to catch birds of prey. That’s interesting. I thought the shooting industry claimed to have a zero tolerance policy to raptor persecution and that anyone convicted would be kicked out of the profession? Apparently not.

Mark Thomas, Head of the RSPB’s Investigations Team is also quoted in the article, having been asked for his opinion about what might have happened to White-tailed Eagle G834:

“I think something has happened in the middle of the night whilst this eagle was at roost. Now, these things don’t fly around in the dark. They will wait till first light.

“If you’re asking me to look at the probability … it’s most likely the bird has been shot. And if the bird is shot whilst it’s roosting, then it’s being shot at night, potentially with thermal imaging gear“.

The article also reports that ‘Snilesworth estate management declined to comment‘. I don’t know who manages the estate these days but for many years it was managed by ‘grouse guru’ Mark Osborne’s company, starting in 2000, according to an earlier version of the company’s website:

One of Osborne’s other companies, William Powell Sporting, currently sells shooting days (Grouse, Pheasant & Red-legged Partridge) at Snilesworth:

Here is a review from one happy Snilesworth customer, featured on a William Powell Sporting publicity brochure:

Photo by Ruth Tingay

The Guardian article is careful to emphasise that there is nothing to suggest that gamekeeper Mr Woof or his team may have been involved in the eagle’s disappearance. Boffey writes:

‘The range of possible suspects is huge, including local farmers and others connected to nearby grouse lands, of which there are many‘.

The article also mentions that on the day the Guardian reporter visited, Mr Woof was ‘busy preparing for a charity clay pigeon shoot‘.

That’ll be this one, happening today, organised by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT).

Hopefully the charity shoot guests won’t be causing any disturbance to the local wildlife as they shoot their way around the six clay pigeon stands across the estate and they can keep an eye out for the missing eagle…

UK legislation continues to fail birds of prey as widespread illegal killing continues – new report from RSPB

Press release from the RSPB (27 May 2026)

UK LEGISLATION CONTINUES TO FAIL BIRDS OF PREY AS WIDESPREAD ILLEGAL KILLING CONTINUES

  • 921 confirmed incidents of bird of prey persecution were recorded in the UK from 2015-2024, involving 18 protected species. Shockingly, these figures represent only a fraction of the true number of these crimes.
  • 55% of all confirmed incidents (2015-2024) were associated with land managed for gamebird shooting with two thirds of individuals convicted linked to the gamebird shooting industry.
  • These latest findings prompt renewed calls for tougher regulation of the gamebird industry through the introduction of licensing for all gamebird shooting in the UK.

Although all birds of prey have been protected under UK laws for over 60 years, a new RSPB report, Patterns of Persecution reveals that these protected species are being illegally targeted and killed across the UK. Between 2015 and 2024, 921 confirmed incidents were recorded across the UK. Of these, 48% were shooting related.

In this ten-year period 18 protected bird of prey species, including many reintroduced and recovering species of conservation concern, fell victim to these crimes. Buzzards were the hardest hit with 319 confirmed incidents recorded, followed by Red Kites (157 confirmed incidents) and Peregrines (97 confirmed incidents).

Concerningly, as these crimes take place predominantly in remote and often inaccessible areas of the countryside, not all are detected. These figures therefore represent only the tip of the iceberg.

Evidence, including police investigations, intelligence reports, eye-witness accounts and covert footage have shown that bird of prey persecution is significantly linked to the gamebird shooting industry. 55% of confirmed incidents (2015-2024) were linked to land managed for gamebird shooting (21% grouse shooting, 28% pheasant and/or partridge shooting, and 6% mixed gamebird shooting).

On some shooting estates birds of prey are being illegally shot, trapped or poisoned, nests and eggs destroyed, and chicks killed before they have fledged the nest.  These often-brutal crimes are committed in an attempt to prevent any perceived threat to gamebird stocks, in an effort to maximise the number of gamebirds available to be shot.

Despite hundreds of confirmed incidents of bird of prey persecution being recorded in recent years, if there is no substantive evidence which links a person to the crime these incidents go unchallenged and unpunished. Between 2015 and 2024, despite hundreds of incidents being recorded, only 24 individuals were convicted of bird of prey persecution-related offences. Two thirds were associated with the gamebird industry, and more than half were working as gamekeepers at the time.

This latest report shows that these crimes continue to detrimentally impact Hen Harrier recovery in England and Scotland. This iconic and threatened Red-listed species has been persecuted for decades, resulting in their population being suppressed to a fraction of their natural capacity. Between 2015 and 2024, 49 confirmed Hen Harrier persecution incidents were recorded in the UK. The majority of these incidents took place on or near land managed for grouse shooting. In the same ten-years 100 satellite tagged Hen Harriers disappeared in suspicious circumstances on or near grouse moors. They were suspected to have been illegally killed.

To provide a meaningful deterrent and effectively challenge the illegal killing of birds of prey, the RSPB is supporting the introduction of a licensing scheme for all gamebird shooting in the UK. Under a civil burden of proof, licences could be suspended or revoked where evidence indicates bird of prey persecution has occurred on licensed land. The system would promote best practice, penalising only those who break the law while respecting the rights of responsible estates. Under this legislation, birds of prey would have the effective protection they desperately need. 

In 2024, Scotland took significant steps, introducing mandatory licensing of grouse shooting under the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024. Now it is time for these protections to be extended across the UK, for all gamebirds shooting.

James Robinson, the RSPB’s chief operating officer: “As this report shows, existing UK laws continue to fail to protect our magnificent birds of prey. Without a meaningful deterrent, these crimes will continue. eagles will be poisoned, Hen Harriers shot and Buzzards beaten to death in traps. All of these crimes are unacceptable.

“Frustratingly, under existing laws, those committing these crimes have been able to do so with little fear of retribution. This needs to change.

“Regulation in the form of a licensing system is the most appropriate and fair way to achieve this, providing an effective and meaningful deterrent to those willing to commit these crimes and finally give these incredible species the protection they urgently need.”

If you notice a dead or injured bird of prey in suspicious circumstances, call the police on 101 and fill in the RSPB’s online reporting form: https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/wild-bird-crime-report-form/

If you have information about anyone killing birds of prey which you wish to report anonymously, call the RSPB’s confidential Raptor Crime Hotline on 0300 999 0101.

ENDS

The new RSPB report and its appendices can be downloaded here:

RSPB Patterns Of Persecution Report_2015_2024Download

RSPB Patterns of Persecution_Appendices_May2026Download

UPDATE 29 May 2026: Shooting industry’s flawed analysis of RSPB raptor persecution data (here)

Bird of prey persecution in UK still widespread, says RSPB

In anticipation of a new RSPB report, due out tomorrow, documenting the ongoing illegal killing of birds of prey in the UK, the BBC News website has an article this morning, stating Britain’s protected birds of prey are still being shot, trapped and poisoned.

The BBC says the new report records 921 confirmed attacks on birds of prey between 2015 and 2024, with more than half, according to the RSPB, on or near land managed for game shooting.

Mark Thomas, head of the RSPB’s investigations unit, told the BBC the killings were “about money”, with birds of prey targeted to stop them taking young pheasants, partridges or grouse, leaving more birds to be shot by paying customers.

Shooting organisations strongly deny persecution is widespread across the industry. They say it is carried out by a small minority and condemn it outright.

Same old, same old.

The BBC has created an interactive map based on the RSPB’s data, showing confirmed incidents per 100 km sq, between 2015 and 2024. There’s a map showing all confirmed incidents (see below) but you can also click on various tabs to show the data for Buzzards, Red Kites, Peregrines, ‘Owls’, Goshawks and Hen Harriers.

The article highlights the convictions of three gamekeepers this year: Thomas Munday, convicted after brutally clubbing a trapped Buzzard to death on a Pheasant shoot at Hovingham, North Yorkshire (here); Racster Dingwall, convicted of conspiracy to kill a Hen Harrier on a grouse moor in the Yorkshire Dales National Park (here); and Russell Mason, convicted of brutally clubbing a trapped Goshawk to death on a Pheasant shoot in Perthshire (here).

The RSPB repeats its call for all gamebird shoots to be licensed. Dr Marnie Lovejoy from the British Association for Shooting & Conservation (BASC) is cited as saying BASC opposes licensing because it ‘would add another layer of regulation to activities already covered by law and would affect everyone involved in shooting’.

It’s a strange argument, often repeated by the game shooting industry. Licensing would protect those who aren’t committing crimes and penalise the ones who are. The industry has failed, spectacularly, to rid itself of the criminals so licensing should be the very least it should expect and if they’re all abiding by the law, the threat of a licence being withdrawn/revoked shouldn’t be of any concern.

The RSPB’s latest report will be published on Wednesday morning and I’ll post a copy of it on the blog, first thing.

‘Ghost sky dance’ – powerful new artwork documents the illegal killing of Hen Harriers on UK grouse moors

This is really special.

Yorkshire-based sculptor Mark Butler and writer Gregory Norminton have collaborated to create a powerful piece of art to highlight the illegal killing of Hen Harriers on UK grouse moors, paying particular attention to those killed in Yorkshire.

‘Ghost sky dance’ by Mark Butler

Gregory chose to write about eight ‘sightings’ of Hen Harriers and pays tribute to 57 named and satellite-tagged Hen Harriers of the 147 known to have ‘disappeared’ or to have been illegally killed, on or close to grouse moors, since 2018.

Mark then chose eight of those Hen Harriers (ones that had vanished / been killed close to his home in the Yorkshire Dales) and created a ‘ghost sky dance’ sequence, routing a silhouette and painting it gold on burnt pallet wood, each with its own memorial plaque detailing the fate of the named harrier.

Mark with his memorial plaque for Hen Harrier Asta, whose wings were ripped off by ‘someone’ in the North Pennines (photo by Ruth Tingay)

I’m not sure if I can persuade you with words alone of just how evocative this work is. I was really taken by both the idea and the photographs alone, but actually seeing and touching the wood, as well as smelling the acridity, made the piece come to life (ironically).

I’m also secretly pleased that Gregory and Mark both say they used this blog as inspiration for their creativity. There’s no better compliment.

The work sits within a wider project focusing on local species that are under threat, all chosen from the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority’s Nature Recovery Plan. It’s still a work in progress but the entire exhibition will be going on tour around Yorkshire from February 2027. If you get a chance to visit it, it’ll be time well spent.

For more information about the creation of the ghost sky dance, visit Mark’s website here and Gregory’s website here.

‘Should I Marry a Murderer?’ New Netflix documentary provides sobering insight into brutal killing & burial of charity cyclist Tony Parsons by McKellar twins at Auch Estate, Glen Orchy

A new three-part documentary was released on Netflix last week as part of a new series called, ‘Should I Marry a Murderer?’

At first sight, this is perhaps not what you’d expect to read about on a blog about the illegal killing of birds of prey in the UK, but this programme was brought to my attention by a high number of visits, especially from the United States, over the last few days, and my blog stats were showing that visitors were looking at specific pages relating to the Auch Estate in Argyll.

Long-term blog readers will be familiar with the Auch Estate. It first featured here in relation to the illegal poisoning of a Golden Eagle, found by walkers on the estate in 2009. Auch Estate farm manager Tom McKellar was later convicted in 2012 for possession of the banned poison Carbofuran that had been found in three separate containers and in a syringe at his house (here). He also managed to swerve a mandatory five-year custodial sentence for illegal possession of two hand guns that were found in his loft during the police search for poisons; for unexplained reasons, he was instead given a 300 hour community service order (here).

Headline from The Guardian newspaper in 2009

Auch Estate was back in the news in 2023 after Tom McKellar’s twin sons, Alexander (Sandy) and Robert were convicted at the High Court in Glasgow for their roles in knocking down charity cyclist Tony Parsons and burying his body in a stink pit on the estate in 2017 (here).

A BBC documentary, aired two years later in August 2025, chartered the police investigation into the disappearance of Tony Parsons and followed the criminal trial of the McKellar twins (see here – still available to watch on iPlayer for another 3 months). The documentary provided a fascinating insight into the difficulties of investigating serious crime on a remote rural estate and the parallels with investigations into illegal raptor persecution in these glens will not have been lost on blog readers. The ease with which the McKellar twins could hide their appalling crimes for so long was sobering.

The latest documentary, ‘Should I Marry a Murderer’, currently available on Netflix, covers the case from the perspective of Dr Caroline Muirhead, who worked as a forensic pathologist in Glasgow and happened to be in a relationship with Sandy McKellar whom she’d met on a dating app. McKellar confessed his crime to Muirhead and it was her evidence, including surreptitiously leaving a can of Red Bull to mark the spot on the vast estate where Tony Parsons was buried, that secured the twins’ convictions.

Dr Caroline Muirhead with Alexander (Sandy) McKellar. Photo from Netflix

The documentary includes commentary from a former local police officer who knew the McKellar family well, and he speculates about how a life surrounded by guns and animal-killing may have desensitised the twins and influenced their callous attitude towards the death of Tony Parsons and the disposal of his body.

There’s also commentary and some police footage in relation to the search for illegal poisons at Tom McKellar’s estate house back in 2009. It reveals that not only did Tom McKellar have unlawful possession of deadly poisons and two hand guns, but that his other firearms and shotguns, which presumably were licensed, were left strewn around the house, including in the bedroom of one of the twins, instead of being locked away in a gun cabinet as the licence requires.

This Netflix documentary has already reached ten million views only a week after its release. It’s well worth watching.

Trial extended for two Scottish gamekeepers accused of offences relating to alleged shooting of Red Kites in Cairngorms National Park

A four-day trial against two Scottish gamekeepers has been extended after the court ran out of time to hear all the evidence.

Head gamekeeper Graeme Rankin and assistant gamekeeper Steven Hague appeared at Aberdeen Sheriff Court this week charged with offences relating to the alleged shooting of Red Kites in the Cairngorms National Park in February 2025.

They have both denied the charges.

Red Kite photo by Pete Walkden

The trial was scheduled to run for four days, between Monday 27 – Thursday 30 April 2026, but the case was adjourned on Thursday and will continue at a later date, still to be decided and dependent upon witness availability.

NB: Comments are turned off as legal proceedings are still live.

UPDATE 18 June 2026: More detail on trial of two Scottish gamekeepers charged with alleged shooting of Red Kites in Cairngorms National Park (here)

UPDATE 6 August 2026: Trial collapses against two Scottish gamekeepers accused of killing Red Kites in Cairngorms National Park (here)

Four-day trial starts for two Scottish gamekeepers in relation to alleged killing of Red Kites in the Cairngorms National Park

A four-day trial is set to begin today at Aberdeen Sheriff Court in a case against two Scottish gamekeepers who are charged with offences in relation to the alleged killing of Red Kites in the Cairngorms National Park in February 2025.

Red Kite photo by Ronnie Gilbert

Head gamekeeper Graeme Rankin and assistant gamekeeper Steven Hague have denied the charges.

This trial was due to be heard in December 2025 but was adjourned after the Sheriff made a declaration that he was a monthly subscriber to the RSPB. The two defence advocates, both KCs, lodged a motion that the Sheriff should consider recusing himself because the ‘public might perceive some bias’. The Sheriff agreed to stand down because this case involves RSPB staff members as witnesses for the prosecution.

NB: Comments are turned off as legal proceedings are live.

UPDATE 1 May 2026: Trial extended for two Scottish gamekeepers accused of offences relating to alleged shooting of Red Kites in Cairngorms National Park (here)

UPDATE 18 June 2026: More detail on trial of two Scottish gamekeepers charged with alleged shooting of Red Kites in Cairngorms National Park (here)

Statement from Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) on conviction of Scottish gamekeeper Russell Mason

Following the news earlier today that Scottish gamekeeper and former convicted sex offender Russell Douglas Mason has been sentenced for beating a Goshawk to death with a stick on a Perthshire shooting estate (here), the Crown Office & Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) has published the following statement:

GAMEKEEPER FINED AFTER BEATING TO DEATH PROTECTED BIRD OF PREY

A gamekeeper who clubbed a protected bird of prey to death has been sentenced

Hidden camera footage showed Russell Mason, 49, striking the goshawk with a cosh six times after it had been caught inside a crow cage trap on Cockrage Moor, Perthshire.

He then put the dead bird in a carrier bag before driving away from the scene at the Milton of Drummie Estate in a Polaris Ranger motor vehicle. 

Mason, who worked on the estate, was sentenced at Perth Sheriff Court after pleading guilty to catching and killing the rare raptor on 12 February 2024. 

He also admitted a charge of illegally storing ammunition at his home outwith the terms of his firearms licence.

Mason was handed a 200-hour community payback order for killing the goshawk and fined £890 for firearm offences. 

Prosecutor Iain Batho, who leads on wildlife crime for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS), said: 

“It is highly important to preserve Scotland’s natural heritage, including the wildlife that forms part of it. As such, wild birds are given strict protection by our law.

“Russell Mason’s brutal and wholly unnecessary actions resulted in the suffering and death of a rare and magnificent bird of prey. 

“COPFS takes raptor persecution seriously and will prosecute individuals where there is sufficient evidence of a crime and where it is in the public interest to do so. 

“The result in this case is a testament to the collaborative working between COPFS, Police Scotland, and Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA), who in this case were able to provide vital forensic evidence“.

Staff from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) had set up the static camera on public ground to monitor activity at the trap. 

After reviewing the footage on February 14, they saw Mason had entered the trap two days earlier carrying a handheld net. 

After catching the goshawk, he is then seen striking it six times with a cudgel or similar instrument. 

RSPB officials alerted the Scottish Society for the Protection of Animals (SSPCA) who, in turn, informed the National Wildlife Crime Unit.

An avian vet who subsequently reviewed the footage said the bird would have suffered several fractures and died a painful death. 

Officers identified Mason from his gamekeeping duties and his vehicle registration. 

DNA from the goshawk was found by officers from the Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA) on a cudgel found at his home. 

During a police search of his home on the estate, officers also recovered a quantity of ammunition from his car and on top of set of bedroom drawers, which were not appropriately stored in accordance with his firearms licence. 

ENDS