Tag: gamekeeper

Remony Estate provides safe haven for golden eagles

Remony Estate in Perthshire has joined a very small group of Scottish sporting estates known to actively support breeding populations of raptors on their grounds. Following in the footsteps of estates such as Coignafearn and Glen Tanar, Remony, near Aberfeldy, has provided a safe haven for a species not often tolerated on a working grouse moor – the golden eagle.

This year a pair of golden eagles was allowed to breed successfully and without disturbance at Remony, resulting in the production of two healthy offspring. One of the youngsters has been collected under licence to join the on-going effort to re-introduce the golden eagle to Ireland.

For the full story, click here.

Congratulations to Remony Estate owner, James Duncan Miller, and his team of gamekeepers, for showing the rest of their industry that raptor conservation and grouse moor management need not be mutually exclusive activities. They deserve to be recognised and acknowledged for their efforts.

Remony Estate website here

No vicarious liability for England

Richard Benyon MP, the DEFRA Minister for the Natural Environment and Fisheries, doesn’t see any need to follow Scotland’s lead of introducing vicarious liability to make landowners legally responsible for incidents of raptor persecution that occur on their estates.

On 30 June 2011, Labour MP Angela Smith (Penistone & Stocksbridge, South Yorkshire) asked the following question: Only two weeks ago, a gamekeeper was convicted for illegally killing birds of prey in my constituency. Is it not time to think about introducing a vicarious liability offence to ensure that landowners and estate managers supervise their gamekeepers more closely and more effectively?

Richard Benyon’s response: There are very good laws in place to punish the illegal killing of any animal. If they are not being effectively enforced, they must be and we will take steps to make sure that happens. However, this is a good opportunity to applaud gamekeepers for the wonderful work they do in providing excellent biodiversity across our countryside.

It was reported in the Telegraph last year that Mr Benyon is a ‘keen grouse-shooter’ (see here).

Perhaps Mr Benyon hasn’t looked at the national poisoning statistics of the last few years. If he had, he couldn’t have failed to notice how many of these confirmed incidents were now listed as ‘closed’ before any enforcement action was taken! (see here for 2008-2011 database).

Perhaps we should all be writing to Mr Benyon, to point him in the direction of these official statistics and to ask him what ‘steps he will take’ to ensure that effective law enforcement is taking place? Here’s his email address: richard@richardbenyon.com

Appeal pending for convicted gamekeeper Glenn Brown

An appeal is pending for convicted gamekeeper Glenn Brown, who was found guilty in June 2011 of offences relating to the illegal use of a cage trap to catch raptors on the National Trust’s Howden Moor in Derbyshire (see here, here and here).

This information was included in a feature article called ‘Raptors and the persecution of gamekeepers’ in the August 2011 edition of Modern Gamekeeping, written by solicitor Tim Ryan. It’s a tediously unoriginal article (you know, the old ‘planting of raptor corpses on shooting estates in order to get a keeper prosecuted’ routine), for which nobody has ever produced any evidence by the way. If there’s interest, the article can be posted here later.

The basis of Brown’s pending appeal is not given.

Badger cull model proposed for pine martens, otters, oh and buzzards

Thanks to the contributor who sent in the August edition of ‘Modern Gamekeeping’, a monthly rag that claims to be ‘Britain’s only independent gamekeeping industry publication’, although it boasts ‘to be in partnership with The British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC), so the notion of being an independent publication is somewhat perplexing.

The first article in this month’s rag is entitled: “Rise of the Mesopredator”. The sub-heading reads: “Editor Peter Carr welcomes the expected badger cull which, if it proves successful, may be a useful model to adopt for future predator licensing applications”.

It’s a longish article and because I’ve got to type it out I’m going to ignore the first half  which basically is a scare-mongering exercise on the badger ‘problem’, and I’ll just regurgitate the second half:

“Perhaps government will learn from this experience [a “too large” badger population] and look at other burgeoning predator populations in our countryside that are an increasing threat to our game birds, fisheries and other wildlife interests. If the proposed area-specific badger culling programme is successful, this model could be used in relation to the control of other mesopredators threatening countryside interests.

The problem predator situation in our Isles has been made much worse by misguided conservationists who have released and translocated certain mesopredators once thought to be threatened. Translocated pine martins [sic], for instance, have since spread across much of the country, destroying many of Scotland’s remaining capercaillie populations. One report conducted at Abernethy recorded that predators had destroyed 65 per cent of known capercaillie nests on the estate, and that a whopping great 57 per cent of these were known to be predated by pine martens.

Is it right to promote a predatory species that has found its natural balance to the detriment of an already struggling species such as the caper? I think not. Surely in areas of serious concern common sense has to be realised, and limited licensing of control put in place to prevent further loss of this iconic species.

The rapidly increasing otter population presents a similar story. In many areas, otters have turned to raiding commercial fisheries after decimating wild fish stocks.

Celebrity angler John Wilson MBE recently caused a major stir in the press when he once more called for immediate action against marauding otters and cormorants that have caused a catastrophic loss of fish in many parts of the country. Specimen carp fisheries that generate a significant amount of money and other wild coarse fisheries have crashed in recent years due to predation by both otters and cormorants. Serious concerns from salmon fisheries have also been expressed, especially in vulnerable spawning redds.

John Wilson has compiled a dossier over many months recording how his local waters and associated businesses have been affected by both otters and cormorants. He has called for other anglers around the country to help him compile further evidence and said: “why is it within the law for a farmer to shoot someone’s dog that is worrying his sheep, yet fish farmers, fishery owners and angling clubs etc are not freely allowed to cull predators such as cormorants and otters decimating their stocks of fish, it all beggars belief”.

The ‘Go Fishing’ star also recently appeared on prime time BBC news slamming predating otters that have been reintroduced all over the country by conservationists. “The otter is a wanton killer; it grabs a carp, eats a pound or two of flesh around the throat region and then leaves it. One in 20 people in Britain go fishing, paying 35 million pounds to the Government to look after our fisheries. I don’t think it is special pleading at all”, said the Norfolk-based TV angling legend. He certainly does have a point that should be seriously considered.

Let us hope that Government continues to see sense, and puts the regulation of wildlife concerns that affect our countryside’s economy and biodiversity into the hands of those that are in the know. Whether it’s badgers, otters, pine martens or buzzards, none of us want to eradicate these species, but it really is a question of balance that should be shared by all stake holders, and interested parties. Control practices should be implemented by professionals, and a high percentage of these, if ever licenses are put in place, will be by gamekeepers, river keepers and water ghillies. Let’s hope it is not too far in the future”.

No surprises there then – the usual anti-predator rhetoric that just happens to have thrown buzzards into the mix in what looks like a ‘jumping on the band wagon’ after-thought. Unfortunately this great rag is not available to read on-line, although you can subscribe (see here). It’s published by Blaze Publishing Ltd, with James Marchington listed as ‘Editorial Director’. The author of this particular article, Peter Carr, may be the same Peter Carr listed as ‘ex-gamekeeper, professional stalker, big game hunter and editor of Sporting Rifle magazine’ on the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation’s website.

It’s just ‘a few rogues’

One of the most significant barriers to ‘sorting out’ the widespread illegal persecution of raptors in Scotland is getting anyone to accept responsibility for these crimes. Previous analyses by the RSPB have shown an irrefutable link between illegally-killed raptors and the game-shooting industry (e.g. see here). Time and time again, scientific peer-reviewed studies have also shown the incontrovertible relationship between areas that are ‘missing’ breeding raptors such as golden eagles and hen harriers, and areas managed as sporting grouse moors (e.g. take a look at the government-funded Conservation Framework Reports for the golden eagle and hen harrier as a starter).

Despite the long-standing and highly-regarded body of evidence, the game-shooting industry continues to refuse responsibility. The latest article in the Scotsman (see here) provides a perfect example of this.

It’s a handful of “rogue estates” carrying out poisonings, say the gamekeepers. It’s a “handful of estates” says David Hendry of the Cardney Estate. It’s “a minority” says Susan Davies of Scottish Natural Heritage. It’s a “tiny minority” according to the SGA response to the article on their Facebook page.

It’s an interesting choice of words isn’t it? The term ‘rogue’ is often used in a jocular sense in today’s society – “Oh, he’s just a loveable rogue”, meaning yes an individual is bending the rules but he’s not doing any real harm, he’s alright really. The term ‘rogue’ is also used to infer just one or two individuals (e.g. it was a rogue crocodile, or it was a rogue tiger that attacked the man), as is the term ‘a handful’. What is a handful? One or two? Not more than five? Not more than ten? The term ‘minority’ (depending on the context) refers to less than the majority.

Do any of these words adequately describe the extent of illegal raptor persecution on Scottish sporting estates, or are they just words used to deflect the increasingly obvious conclusion that illegal raptor persecution is endemic across many sporting estates? Let’s look at the stats.

This blog has been accused of using out-of-date information to create the false illusion of widespread raptor persecution. It’s a valid criticism in some ways as our Named Estates page dates back to incidents that were recorded in 1979. Actually it only includes one record from 1979 but to be fair the list does include a lot of reported incidents from the 1980s and 1990s. These early reported incidents were only used to illustrate the historical nature of illegal raptor persecution – i.e. it’s been going on for decades, but to be completely upfront we have since indicated which of those estates are known to have since changed hands (and thus potentially changed their ‘management’ practices). So, let’s just look at reported incidents from the last two years – that is, from January 2009 to March 2011, the most up-to-date figures available in the public domain.

During this period, twenty-six named locations have been identified as places where dead raptors have been reportedly found in suspicious circumstances. Most were poisoned but ‘a handful’ were shot or trapped and one (on Logie Estate) was found dead but the cause of death remains unknown. Of these 26 locations, 14 were on named estates: Auch Estate, Edradynate Estate, Farr and Kyllachy Estate, Glenbuchat Estate, Glenogil Estate, Invercauld Estate, *Leadhills Estate, Logie Estate, Millden Estate, Mountquhanie Estate, *Moy Estate, *Redmyre Estate, *Skibo Estate, Strathspey Estate. The remaining 12 locations were un-named and may or may not involve estates: eight in 2010 and four between Jan/Mar 2011. Of course, just because an illegally poisoned, shot or trapped dead raptor is discovered at a location doesn’t necessarily implicate the estate owner, shooting tenant or gamekeeper. It could just be a series of unfortunate coincidences, even though in the Scotsman article David Hendry of Cardney Estate admits that “there are a number of estates using poison still.” On only four of the above estates have gamekeepers been convicted for related crimes (Leadhills, Moy, Redmyre and Skibo).

If we expand the search to the previous five years (2006-2011 – as this is still relatively recent), then obviously the list grows:

*Birthwood Farm, *BlythFarm, *Cabrach Estate, Clova Estate, Dawyck Estate, Dinnet & Kinord Estate, Dunecht Estate, *Frogden Farm, *Glenbuchat Estate, Glenfeshie Estate, Glenogil Estate, Glen Turret Estate, *Innes House Estate. (The ones with an asterisk indicate a conviction during this period).  In addition, a further six un-named locations are reported.

If we remove from this expanded list those estates that were already included in the two-year analysis (i.e. Glenbuchat, Glenogil) then we are left with a total of 25 different estates where dead raptors have been reportedly discovered in suspicious circumstances in the last five years. Add to these the 18 un-named locations and you get a running total of 43 different locations, assuming that all of the un-named locations were different to the named locations.

Forty-three. Is that ‘a minority’? Well yes, in the strictest sense it is because there are hundreds of shooting estates in Scotland. The exact number seems hard to pinpoint but it’s certainly at least in the low hundreds, which means that 43 is a minority in this context. But is it a ‘tiny minority’? Is it ‘a few rogues’? Is it ‘a handful’? No it isn’t. It’s a lot more than that and the game-shooting industry is being disingenuous if it continues to peddle this rural myth. But of course they’ll continue to peddle it because they want us to believe that they’re a law-abiding industry who just happen to want licences to be allowed to legally kill ‘just a few rogue’ raptors.

And what of the locations that haven’t been reported but can be implied by the ‘missing’ breeding raptors reported in the scientific papers? How many of these locations are there? Who knows. One thing is for sure – if the landowners and gamekeepers won’t admit responsibility for the incidents we do know about, they sure as hell aren’t going to admit to the ones we don’t know about! The representative bodies all say they’re working hard behind the scenes to get the ‘rogues’ to stop, but they’ve been saying that for a long, long time and here we are in 2011 and the killing continues up and down the country, with the exception of ‘a handful’ of decent estates who proactively welcome breeding raptors. Why does it continue? Because the majority know they can get away with it, just as they have been doing for the past 50+ years.

Masters of spin

A news article (here) has appeared on the SGA website this morning claiming that “Gamekeepers are the unsung heroes of conservation“. Let’s look at the ‘evidence’ produced to back up this claim.

It apparently comes in the form of a new report by “independent” charity GWCT, detailing the results of a UK-wide gamekeeper survey. Earlier this year, gamekeepers were asked to write down what species were found on their shoots. It’s not clear what scientific field surveys, if any, were conducted, because the GWCT report has not yet been published. Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that scientifically-rigorous transects were repeated across the shooting lands to support these ‘scientific’ findings.

According to the SGA website, “over 80% of respondents reported having kestrels, buzzards, sparrowhawks, barn and tawny owls on their patch.” The article doesn’t say if these were dead or alive. It also doesn’t say how many reported having golden eagles, white-tailed eagles, hen harriers, goshawks, red kites, short-eared owls or peregrines on their patch, which would have been far more interesting. We’ll have to wait for the publication of the report.

The article continues – “The area of land managed by gamekeepers who took part in the survey (1,337,454 ha) is five times the total area of all Britain’s National Nature Reserves (255,789 ha) and 13 times the total area of all RSPB reserves (101,581 ha).” SGA chairman, Alex Hogg interprets this as: “It’s clear that there’s more wildlife on the land managed by keepers in Britain than on all the nature reserves and special protection areas put together.” Erm, I don’t think that’s clear at all, Alex. What these figures show, if they are accurate, is that gamekeepers ‘manage’ five times the total area of NNRs and RSPB Reserves (which is a worrying statistic in itself). What the figures do not show is a comparison of wildlife density between these managed areas. Unless of course gamekeepers have been conducting their scientifically-rigorous transects across NNRs and RSPB Reserves as well. Again, we’ll have to wait for the publication of the report.

The article goes on to disclose the ‘informal’ working relationship between gamekeepers and the law enforcement agencies and generally tells us all what great guys (“heroes“) the UK’s gamekeepers are. Most sensible people will look at the annual raptor persecution statistics and the annual convictions of gamekeepers for wildlife crime offences, and make up their minds about how ‘heroic’ some of these keepers are. It’s a shame, because undoubtedly there are a handful of truly ‘good guys’ in the industry, but as we keep seeing, there are an awful lot who repeatedly bring the industry into disrepute by their criminal activities.

An article about the forthcoming report appeared in The Telegraph (here). Written by Environment Correspondent Louise Gray, it’s littered with inaccuracies including, “A number of gamekeepers have even been imprisoned for illegally poisoning rare birds of prey“. Er, no they haven’t.

A note of interest – the “independent” charity GWCT who organised this survey (see here for a recent post on this so-called ‘independence’) has listed William Powell amongst its list of “dedicated supporters and corporate partners” (sponsors?) at this year’s CLA Game Fair (see here). Would this be the same William Powell (Gunmakers) that was sold to Mark Osborne in January 2008?

Reintroductions “a threat to biodiversity”

An astonishing display of ignorance was on show in The Telegraph this week. The group calling themselves the Veterinary Association of Wildlife Management (VAWM) has claimed that the reintroduction of native species, formerly wiped out by persecution (e.g. sea eagle and red kite) are “potential man-made threats to biodiversity“. Really?  Methinks someone at the VAWM needs to read up on the Convention of Biological Diversity.

The VAWM, formerly known as Vets for Hunting (hmm, another group with a PR-induced name change – sound familiar?), also claim that the UK’s population of red kites was ‘threatening songbird species’. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Perhaps VAWM spokesman Dr Lewis Thomas (a retired veterinary pathologist) should swap his rusty old scalpel for a shiny pair of binoculars. Ignorance is no excuse. Telegraph article here.

Interestingly, according to their facebook page, the Scottish Gamekeepers Association agrees with the VAWM’s sentiments on reintroductions. And this from a group whose members routinely rear and release millions of non-native gamebirds into our countryside every year, without any accountability for the environmental damage this may cause. Amazing.

Meanwhile, back in the real world of conservation, RSPB Scotland has secured major funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund to extend their fantastic sea eagle reintroduction project for another year (see here).

Update on the outcome of the Holkham gamekeeper trial

Further to Saturday’s blog post, more information has come to light in the form of a press release from Knights Solicitors, who instructed the defence.

It’s well worth a read, particularly the last paragraph. Please also note that the statement says Nicholas Parker resigned his position as head gamekeeper at Holkham Estate shortly after the allegations were made.

Knights Solicitors press release here

Also an article (here) with Nick Parker being interviewed by The Shooting Times after the trial.

Former Holkham Estate head gamekeeper gets conditional discharge

The case against former Holkham Estate Head Gamekeeper Nicholas Parker was finally heard yesterday at Norwich Magistrate’s Court. He was given a conditional discharge.

Several charges against him had been dropped; one of them reportedly because much of the prosecution’s evidence related to allegations from 2008 and the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 required evidence to be within two years.

The District Judge, Philip Browning, gave the conditional discharge after hearing how much Parker had already ‘suffered’, after his firearms certificate had been confiscated and because the case had been given significant public attention. Clever defence barrister. A barrister of the same name is listed as also being a Council Member of the British Association of Shooting and Conservation (BASC) and an expert in firearms law here.

Court report here

Background to this story here, here, here and here

An explanation of what a conditional discharge is here

JULY 18 2011 UPDATE here

A recent history of golden eagle persecution in Scotland

Two years ago in July 2009, Alma, a two-year golden eagle who had been satellite-tracked across Scotland from her birth place on the Glenfeshie Estate, was found dead. She was discovered lying face-down in the heather on Millden Estate, Angus and later tests showed she had been poisoned by the banned pesticide Carbofuran.

The police conducted a search of Millden Estate and the local community responded with anger to Alma’s death. They wrote letters of concern to the local estates, the Environment Minister and the Chairman of Scottish Natural Heritage. On the second anniversary of her death, has anybody been brought to justice for killing her? Not that we know of.

Alma’s death is not a stand alone case, as we are all too aware. Prior to her killing in 2009, 17 golden eagles were confirmed victims of shooting, trapping or nest destruction in Scotland, between 1989 and 2009, according to this RSPB report. In addition, in the same report a further 24 golden eagles were confirmed victims of illegal poisoning in Scotland during the same period, including Alma.

The killing didn’t end with Alma. Since her death in 2009, a further 5 golden eagles have been confirmed killed – four of them last year (3 of them at Skibo Estate and one on an un-named grouse moor near Inverness ) and at least one known death so far this year, on North Glenbuchat Estate. That makes a total of 46. And these are only the ones we know about. There are other suspicious incidents, such as the four golden eagle leg rings reported to have been found in 2010 in the possession of convicted gamekeeper James Rolfe of the Moy Estate. As this report points out, these rings were originally fitted to golden eagle chicks prior to their fledging from nests in Sutherland, Grampian, Mull and Skye. These rings must have been removed from the dead eagles but how they came to be in Rolfe’s possession is unclear.

Add these four to the grand total and you get a minimum of 50 golden eagles illegally persecuted in Scotland since 1989. Nobody has ever been convicted for any of these reported crimes.