Tag: golden eagle

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

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

APPEAL FOR INFORMATION ON MISSING GOLDEN EAGLE IN SCOTTISH BORDERS

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

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

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

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

ENDS

More comment on this in due course…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nor is it the first time we’ve heard the claim that any sort of enforced regulation will ‘threaten’ or ‘damage’ the rural economy.

When the Land Reform Bill was being debated [in 2003] the Scottish Landowners Federation (which later re-branded to call itself the Scottish Rural Property & Business Association (SRPBA) and then re-branded again to its current name of Scottish Land & Estates) warned that the legislation would do irreversible damage to rural economies and they threatened to block the legislation at the European Court of Human Rights (see here).

Scottish Land & Estates also bleated about further land reform measures [in 2015] when the Scottish Government proposed removing the two-decades-old exemption from business rates enjoyed by shooting estates. SLE claimed that, “We believe that there would be a negative impact on rural jobs, tourism and land management” (see here).

And then there was more bleating when the Scottish Government brought in vicarious liability to tackle the continued illegal persecution of birds of prey. David Johnstone, the then Chair of Scottish Land & Estates claimed this would introduce another layer of bureaucracy “When the Government should be doing what it can to help landowners and the rural economy” (see here).

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A young golden eagle in Scotland. Photo: Ruth Tingay

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

ENDS

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:

McKellar twins from Auch Estate sentenced for killing cyclist & burying his body in a stink pit

Twin brothers Alexander and Robert McKellar have today been sentenced at the High Court in Glasgow for their roles in knocking down cyclist Tony Parsons and burying his body in a stink pit on the notorious Auch Estate near the Bridge of Orchy, where their father had previously been convicted for the illegal possession of two hand guns and a banned pesticide (Carbofuran) after the discovery of a poisoned golden eagle (see here).

Alexander & Robert McKellar. Photos: Police Scotland

Alexander McKellar, who had previously been charged with murder but pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of culpable homicide, was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Robert McKellar was sentenced to five years and three months for attempting to defeat the ends of justice by assisting his brother in covering up the crime by burying Mr Parsons in a remote spot on the Auch Estate.

Aerial view of Auch Estate. Photo: COPFS

Mr Parsons was knocked off his bicycle by Alexander McKellar’s vehicle, part-way through a charity ride on a rainy night in September 2017. Instead of providing him with assistance, the McKellar twins drove back to Auch Estate, switched vehicles, and returned to collect Mr Parsons and his possessions and then hid everything under a tarpaulin in some woods on the estate. Mr Parson’s body was later moved to a stink pit on the estate where he was buried, and the McKellar twins burned his possessions.

Their hideous crimes only came to light in 2021 after Alexander McKellar confessed to his then girlfriend, who went to the police. That they’d been able to conceal these offences for so long, despite major searches by Police Scotland officers, mountain rescue teams, police dogs, police air support unit, as well as volunteers, and with repeated media appeals, is a clear demonstration of how easy it is for criminal evidence to be hidden on vast, remote sporting estates. Makes you think, doesn’t it?

Previous blogs on this case here and here.

UPDATE 13 AUGUST 2025: New BBC documentary provides shocking insight into appalling crimes on Auch Estate, Bridge of Orchy (here)

Highly pathogenic avian influenza confirmed in red grouse in Scotland

A case of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), otherwise known as bird flu, has been confirmed in red grouse in Scotland, according to DEFRA.

Red grouse. Photo: RSPB Images

The confirmation has appeared in DEFRA’s running tally of confirmed bird flu cases in wild birds, which is a spreadsheet that’s updated weekly (see here).

The spreadsheet entry states that H5N1 was detected in a red grouse in week 30 (July 24 – July 30 2023) in the Scottish Borders:

There isn’t any more detail about the location, nor how many birds have been found infected/dead, just that a single bird has been tested and found to be positive.

If this infected red grouse was found on land managed for driven grouse shooting it’s of serious concern. Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza causes severe disease and high mortality in birds and has already killed tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of wild birds in the UK, impacting on the populations of globally significant species.

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza is transmitted by the spreading between birds of nasal secretions and droppings, and it also spreads to birds of prey via the predation of infected birds. Some UK raptor species have already been badly affected, including golden eagles and white-tailed eagles (e.g. see here).

We know that many driven grouse moors are (mis)managed to produce an artificially-high density of red grouse for shooting. Another highly contagious disease, Cryptosporidiosis (Bulgy Eye) is rife on many intensively-managed driven grouse moors. It was first detected in wild red grouse in England in 2010 and then spread rapidly, via communal medicated grit trays, and by 2015 had affected high density red grouse on half of the 150 grouse moors in northern England. It has also been detected in Scotland, although the extent of the spread in Scotland is not known because the shooting industry is keeping quiet, and, for reasons unknown, NatureScot isn’t undertaking any surveillance of the disease (see here).

A grit tray on a grouse moor containing red grouse faecal droppings – a disease reservoir. Photo: Ruth Tingay

If the highly contagious Cryptosporidiosis disease can spread so rapidly via red grouse secretions and droppings found in grit trays on the moors, then so can Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza.

Last year I argued that it would be ‘irresponsible’ for grouse-shooting to go ahead during the avian flu epidemic (see here). In response, the Scottish Government said: ‘…there have been no recorded cases of avian influenza in any grouse species, and there are no restrictions in place on grouse shooting’.

Given that Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza has now been confirmed in red grouse in the Scottish Borders, and the grouse-shooting season opens on Saturday (the Inglorious 12th), how will the Scottish Government respond?

Shouldn’t they be restricting shooting as a precautionary measure, at least until the extent of the disease is evaluated?

More detail emerges about McKellar twins who buried cyclist’s body in stink pit on Auch Estate

Further to the horrific story about how charity cyclist Tony Parsons had been killed and then subsequently buried in a stink pit by the McKellar twins on the infamous Auch Estate near Bridge of Orchy in the Scottish highlands (see here), more information has emerged in this grisly case.

The Daily Record has reported that the McKellar twins’ father was Tom McKellar, who was convicted in 2012 for the illegal possession of a banned pesticide (Carbofuran) and two hand guns at his home on the Auch Estate where he worked as a farm manager (also described in some publications as a gamekeeper)- see here and here for some background to that case.

The article in the Daily Record (here) also includes comments made by locals about the McKellar twins and it reports that the brothers ‘worked as stalkers on a hunting estate‘ and ‘had been exposed to the killing of animals for much of their lives‘.

The article continues:

‘The boys had grown up in a life where shooting animals, trapping them was a way of life, part of the running of a shooting estate that protected the game bird and deer stocks. They were both working on the land from a young age and soon working as deer stalkers. Their father was said to be highly regarded in the local community but the fact he had illegal guns and hugely toxic, illegal poison at his property didn’t exactly make him look like the best role model‘.

The article also states: ‘The men eventually buried Tony’s body in a “death hole” that was full of the rotting remains of foxes, grouse and other animals that had been killed on the estate‘.

I’m not sure that grouse shooting takes place on the Auch Estate – the habitat doesn’t look as though it would support commercial driven grouse shooting at any rate. The estate is best known for offering deer stalking and fishing, although the estate agent’s brochure from the 2020 sale does say that walked-up shooting is available and mentions rough shooting for woodcock:

auch-estate-sales-brochure-2020Download

Further information about the site where Tony’s remains were found was reported in an STV article (here) published last September when the case moved to trial at the High Court in Glasgow. The article reports that Tony’s body was ‘hidden under animal remains with bleach also poured on his remains‘. (Thanks to a blog reader for sending the STV link).

There has been a lot of online commentary about this gruesome case, which isn’t surprising given the shocking crimes committed by the McKellar twins. Some have questioned why I’m reporting the case on this blog. I don’t feel the need to justify what gets reported on here but in this case I thought it would have been obvious given the estate’s history as a raptor persecution crime scene, the relationship of the McKellar twins to Tom McKellar, and the use of a stink pit to bury a body.

I think it’s also interesting to highlight that a crime as serious as this one can remain hidden on large estates like Auch for years. We often refer to raptor persecution crimes on vast, privately-owned sporting estates as being the ‘tip of the iceberg’ because inevitably estate employees have every opportunity, and of course the motive, to hide the evidence of their criminal activity. The crimes that are uncovered are usually only discovered by chance.

The killing of Tony Parsons and his burial in a stink pit on the Auch Estate by two individuals who lived and worked there only came to light because someone had the courage and decency to report it to the police when Alexander McKellar confessed to her what he and his brother had done.

I see a lot of parallels.

The McKellar twins are due to be sentenced later this month.

UPDATE 25th August 2023: McKellar twins from Auch Estate sentenced for killing cyclist & burying his body in a stink pit (here)

UPDATE 13 AUGUST 2025: New BBC documentary provides shocking insight into appalling crimes on Auch Estate, Bridge of Orchy (here)

Cyclist’s body found buried in stink pit on infamous Auch Estate

There was a pretty gruesome criminal case taking place at the High Court in Glasgow last week relating to the infamous Auch Estate at the Bridge of Orchy.

Long-term blog readers may well remember the Auch Estate – a deer-stalking and fishing sporting estate where a poisoned golden eagle was found in June 2009 along with a carbofuran-killed fox and a carbofuran-laced sheep carcass. The discovery led to a raid at the farm manager’s home where Carbofuran was discovered in a game bag and two illegal handguns were discovered in the loft.

Three years later after prolonged legal proceedings, farm manager Tom McKellar (then aged 50) was convicted for having possession of the banned pesticide Carbofuran, although he wasn’t charged with poisoning the golden eagle or placing the poisoned bait. He was given a pathetic £1,200 fine for possession of Carbofuran and a 300-hour community service order for possession of the two handguns, a crime which would normally have attracted a mandatory five year custodial sentence (see here and here for some background to that case).

Aerial view of Auch Estate. Photo: Crown Office

The case heard last week at Glasgow High Court centred on twin brothers Alexander and Robert McKellar (now aged 31). In September 2017 after drinking with a German hunting party at a local hotel, Alexander McKellar’s vehicle hit a charity cyclist, Tony Parsons, who was cycling on the A82, causing him serious injury. Instead of helping him, the two brothers drove back to Auch Estate (where they were reportedly self employed farm workers living with their parents – Alexander McKellar was also reported to be a deer stalker), dumped their phones and changed vehicle and went back to pick up Tony Parson’s body, bike and possessions, and drove back to the estate and initially hid Mr Parsons in a wood.

They later removed him from the wood and took him to another location on the estate, reported in court as a location used for “the purposes of disposing dead animals”, in other words, a stink pit. There they dug a grave and buried Mr Parsons and burned his possessions.

Mr Parson’s remains were not discovered until January 2021 after a girlfriend of one of the McKellar brothers told police she’d been shown the grave site in 2020. Prior to her report, in 2018 the police had been tipped off to “pay attention” to the McKellar twins and had visited the estate in January 2019 but were apparently ‘asked to leave’.

Details of the case can be read here, here and here.

The McKellar brothers were due to stand trial for the murder of Mr Parsons but the court has accepted a not guilty plea from Robert McKellar and a guilty plea from Alexander McKellar to a lesser charge of culpable homicide. Both have pleaded guilty to attempting to defeat the ends of justice. They will be sentenced on 25th August at Glasgow High Court.

Let’s hope there’s some justice for Tony Parsons and his family.

UPDATE 4th August 2023: More detail emerges about McKellar twins who buried cyclist’s body in stink pit on Auch Estate (here)

UPDATE 25th August 2023: McKellar twins from Auch Estate sentenced for killing cyclist & burying his body in a stink pit (here)

UPDATE 13 AUGUST 2025: New BBC documentary provides shocking insight into appalling crimes on Auch Estate, Bridge of Orchy (here)

10 million blog views

10 million blog views feels like a significant milestone.

Many thanks to all the friends, colleagues, collaborators, supporters, followers, commentators and funders, who make this worthwhile.

Here’s the photograph that I publish every time a new milestone is reached. This is a golden eagle that was found dead on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park in 2006. It had been illegally poisoned. It epitomises everything in its pitiful, poignant, senselessness.

Photo: RSPB

Unfortunately there is still a lot more work to do, as evidenced by the recent discovery of two young white-tailed eagles found poisoned on a grouse moor in Northern Ireland in May 2023:

Photo: RSPB

The illegal killing of birds of prey in the UK continues and so must this blog. It can often feel like no progress is being made, but it is, albeit more slowly than any of us would like.

I read a report over the weekend where representatives of the game-shooting industry said they felt ‘under siege’ from campaigners. That’s good, some of them have been allowed to get away with far too much for far too long, often assisted and shielded by the very authorities who should be holding them to account.

Change will only come when enough of us demand it.

Onwards!

Second trial underway for falconer charged with welfare offences relating to 90 eagles

In February this year, prominent falconer and eagle breeder Andrew Knowles Brown from Elvanfoot, Scotland was cleared of all charges at Lanark Sheriff Court in relation to the alleged mistreatment of ten imported White-bellied sea eagles at the Scottish Eagle Centre (see here).

That case was the first of two. For reasons that are unclear to me, charges relating to the welfare of another 90 eagles (here) were split into a second trial, which is now underway.

Andrew Knowles Brown and his associate, Alan Rothery, are alleged to have kept the eagles in enclosures which were too small, failed to provide the birds with natural light, failed to provide them with adequate water, denied them the ability to exhibit natural behaviours such as flying and bathing, and failed to protect the birds from injury, suffering and disease, between June-December 2019. Both have denied the charges.

The Scottish SSPCA started giving evidence at Lanark Sheriff Court on 8th June 2023 and will continue at the next hearing scheduled for 10th and 11th August 2023.

Knowles-Brown is a prominent figure in the falconry world, having served as the Chair of the Scottish Hawk Board and Vice-Chair of the UK Hawk Board. The Hawk Board, which includes a representative from the Countryside Alliance, represents falconers, hawk-keepers and falconry clubs and provides welfare guidelines for those keeping raptors in captivity. It also engages in political lobbying (e.g. it was against the Scottish Government’s decision to afford the Mountain Hare full legal protection) and Knowles-Brown himself has provided evidence to the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs Committee when it was considering its draft Protection of Wild Mammals (Scotland) Bill.

As the second court case is live, comments won’t be accepted on this blog until proceedings have concluded. Thanks for your understanding.

UPDATE 22 January 2024: Trial continues in Scotland for falconer charged with welfare offences relating to 90 eagles (here)

UPDATE 15 October 2024: Prominent falconer & eagle breeder Andrew Knowles-Brown guilty of welfare offences relating to approx 90 eagles in Scotland (here)