Tag: peregrine

RSPB Scotland publishes 2012 persecution report

sam4RSPB Scotland has today published its annual persecution report which documents the known and suspected incidents of  illegal raptor killing throughout Scotland in 2012.

It’s a shame it’s taken so long to get it published, but that minor criticism aside, massive kudos and appreciation to them for their continued meticulous collection of these data and especially their willingness to publish them. Without these reports the general public, and probably the government, would be unaware of exactly what’s going on in our countryside. If we relied upon the ‘official’ figures (i.e. those ‘approved’ by the likes of Scottish Land & Estates, the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association, Police Scotland etc) we wouldn’t know the half of it.

The 2012 report, just like all the previous 18 reports, makes for grim reading. Sure, it documents a reduction in the number of birds known to have been illegally poisoned last year; some people (guess who?) have spent much of 2013 shouting about this as being evidence of the game-shooting industry cleaning up its act – we know better – the 2013 figures (to date) show no such reduction and in fact show an increase in known poisoning incidents…but more of that next year. Let’s focus on the 2012 report for now.

Three things caught our attention in this report. The first thing was the Foreword by Stuart Housden, RSPB Scotland Director. This is the hardest-hitting Foreword of his that we’ve read. In the past it’s been a bit wishy-washy, with too many platitudes aimed at the landowning and gamekeeping communities and suggestions that the raptor killers are just an unrepresentative minority. This time it’s quite different:

“It is evident that a significant number of individuals or estates illegally persecute birds of prey“.

Is this subtle change of language an indication that RSPB Scotland is tiring of the whole ‘partnership-working’ pretensions? Let’s hope so.

The second thing to catch our attention was an entry in Table 3 (page 24): Confirmed incidents of illegal killing or attempted killing (excluding poisoning) of birds of prey in Scotland, 2012

The entry of interest is this:

‘February. Buzzard caught in illegal spring trap. Nr Edzell, Angus’.

There isn’t any further detail about this incident, and it certainly hasn’t been publicised by the Police (no surprise there). However, for reasons that we can’t go in to right now, we are particularly interested in the details of this incident and would ask any blog reader with specific information to contact us, in confidence: raptor.persecution.scotland@hotmail.co.uk

The third thing that caught our attention was the Case Study: Poisoning in Progress (pages 19-20). This case relates to the discovery of poisoned corvids and poisoned bait found in the Borders in May 2012.

We’d blogged about this case in Sept 2012, criticising the Police for not publicising the discovery of poisoned birds and poisoned bait (see here). We also blogged about it in October this year, after the incident was excluded from the ‘raptor persecution’ section in the  Government’s ‘official’ 2012 Wildlife Crime Report (see here). We asked blog readers to contact the Environment Minister and ask why this incident had been excluded. Here is part of the reply received by one of our readers:

“You ask why a bird poisoning incident was omitted from the Scottish Government’s first annual report into wildlife crime. I can advise you that the incident in question was not listed in the section on raptor crime because no raptors were involved“.

Now, have a read of the Case Study in the RSPB’s report. Guess what was found at the scene? “The feathers and bones of two dead buzzards, lying beside the old, dried-out carcases of two rabbits, in a wood beside a partridge rearing pen. A dead crow was also found a short distance away“.

That’s a pretty clear indication that raptors were indeed involved.

According to the Case Study report, the rabbits were covered in dead insects (a sure indication of the presence of poison) and they were submitted for toxicology analysis, along with the crow. The buzzards were not submitted as they were considered too decomposed.

The results – all contained the pesticide Bendiocarb.

There was no police follow-up, no search, no nothing. Why not, when there was clear evidence of long-term poisoning at the site? And even better, the site is a very well-known raptor persecution blackspot in the Borders, where many other poisoned raptors have previously been discovered.

It’s just the same old familiar pattern, same shit, same locations, different year. The sooner the Government launches its public consultation on increasing the powers of the SSPCA to allow them to investigate raptor persecution, the better. (Where is that consultation anyway? We heard it would be launched in mid-Oct. No sign yet…)

Anyway, well done and thanks again to RSPB Scotland – funny, lots of poisoning, trapping and shooting incidents but not a single ‘death by tree’ report!!

Download the report: The Illegal Killing of Birds of Prey in Scotland 2012

Rescued peregrine succumbs to its injuries

Last week we blogged about the valiant efforts made by a farmer, an RSPB warden, a politician and a falconer/gamekeeper to save a stricken peregrine that was believed to have been poisoned (see here).

We heard yesterday that she didn’t make it. Her body has now been sent to the veterinary labs at the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute for testing.

Young peregrine shot

peregrine shotPolice in Bristol are appealing for information after a young peregrine was found injured by the side of the road in Queen Charlton, near Keynsham earlier this month. An x-ray revealed the bird had been shot.

The bird, which had been ringed as a chick in July, is now in the care of a local rehabilitation expert.

More details in The Bristol Post here.

Peregrine shot, barn owl chick stolen, hen harriers remembered

It’s been quite a day. The so-called ‘Glorious 12th’ has been taken back by the conservationists and re-named Hen Harrier Day, in an inspired move by Alan Tilmouth (read his blog entry here).

Although he only came up with the idea yesterday, Twitter has been alive today with hundreds of people using the #henharrier tag to celebrate these spectacular birds and to express their anger at the virtual extermination of the species on grouse moors across England. Unsurprisingly, the game-shooting organisations were conspicuously absent.

Mark Avery also came up with a plan to help hen harriers. He’s called it BanGS – see here.

Meanwhile, news came through that police in Bolton are appealing for information after an injured and distressed peregrine was found by the side of a road. It had been shot. Full details here.

Elsewhere, the Suffolk Wildlife Trust is appealing for information after a barn owl chick was stolen from the Carlton Marshes Nature Reserve last night. Information here.

In other news, we’ve been having a look at some VERY interesting literature – a copy of the Leadhills Estate gamebook (don’t ask how we got hold of it!!) – which very helpfully documents annual counts of killed ‘vermin’ over a considerable number of decades. ‘Vermin’ in Leadhills-speak includes hawks, badgers, otters, cats and ravens amongst others. It’s fascinating. We’ll be writing more on this in due course…

Leadhills game book vermin lists

3 peregrines shot: 2 dead, 1 severely injured

Three peregrines have been found shot in South Tipperary, Ireland over the last few weeks.

The first, a breeding female, was found shot dead under her church ruin nest site in mid-June.

The second, an adult male, was found injured a few days later near to another nest site close by. This bird is being treated at a rehabilitation centre but it is feared it will not recover well enough to be released.

The third, a breeding male, was found shot dead in July at the nest site where the adult female had been shot dead.

Full details on the BirdWatch Ireland website here.

The photograph shows the adult female found shot dead in June. Photo by Kevin Collins.

Dead_female_Peregrine_Falcon_(Kevin_Collins)_500

Ireland publishes its first persecution report, with interesting results

94f6f996ec3a866ce6d587d28bd5b809_LThe Irish National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has published its first national raptor persecution report, relating to reported incidents in 2011.

The NPWS issued the following press release:

“33 poisoning or persecution incidents affecting birds of prey were recorded in Ireland in 2011, according to a report published today by the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. 

15 birds of prey were confirmed poisoned, and four more suspected cases were recorded. 8 birds of prey were shot.

Some of the deaths were accidental, but many were deliberate. The most frequent casualty was the red kite, a native species that was recently re-introduced to Ireland. It is believed that seven of the ten kites found dead were poisoned by eating rats that had themselves been poisoned. As well as red kite, other raptor species that were deliberately targeted included peregrine falcon, buzzard, sparrowhawk, and kestrel.

The report is the result of cooperation between the National Parks and Wildlife Service, the Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine’s Regional Veterinary Laboratories and the State Laboratory, and also involves An Garda Síochána, the Golden Eagle Trust and BirdWatch Ireland. 

The report notes that the use of tracking devices on birds has enabled dead birds to be found, but this also means that the true levels of mortality are likely to be significantly higher.

The use of poison has been greatly restricted under EU law in recent years. It is illegal to poison any animal or birds other than rats, mice or rabbits in Ireland and only then using certain registered products. The Campaign for Responsible Rodenticide Use has recently been set up with funding from industry. This campaign aims to promote best practice so that rat poison in particular should not get into the wildlife food chain where it harms owls, kites and other birds of prey.

The poisoning of golden and white-tailed sea eagles has been a particular problem in recent years, but fortunately in 2011, no poisonings were recorded. Records of poisoning and persecution in 2012 are currently being analysed and the second annual report is due for release shortly.

The Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Mr Jimmy Deenihan, T.D., welcomed the report. ”This gives us at least a partial view of the scale of the problem in Ireland”, he said. ”It is simply not acceptable for majestic birds of prey and other wildlife to be persecuted or poisoned. First it is illegal, but just as important it harms our reputation as a clean, green country. I would urge anyone to report such incidents to the National Parks and Wildlife Service in my Department. There are alternatives to poison which can be successfully used when control is essential ” he said.”

Here is a copy of the report: Persecution Report Ireland 2011

The publication of this report, and the anticipated future annual reports, demonstrates a basic but very important step forward, allowing the authorities and NGOs to monitor and record raptor persecution incidents in a coordinated effort, to help tackle the issue as well as to improve public awareness and education.

The report includes the usual list of victims and the substances that were used to kill them (Alphachloralose, Carbofuran etc) although we did notice one particular substance that was less familiar – Nitroxynil (also called Nitroxinil). As far as we understand, Nitroxynil is an active ingredient in the veterinary treatment of cattle and sheep, for example in sheep dips. According to this report, Nitroxynil  was detected in the carcases of three poisoned white-tailed eagles and one golden eagle, as well as in several recovered baits, including an egg and two lagomorphs (rabbit or hare).

It would appear, given that it was detected in different baits, that Nitroxynil has been used deliberately in Ireland to target any animal that might scavenge from a bait. It’s also possible that some of the deaths were from accidental poisoning, although fallen stock should not be left out on the hill.

We’re not certain, but we don’t recall seeing Nitroxynil listed in any recent toxicology reports published in Scotland by SASA. We don’t know if SASA tests for this substance when they’re presented with a potentially poisoned animal – it would be fair to say that SASA can’t test for every known poison due to resource constraints, and it’s reasonable for them just to test for the more commonly-used poisons. However, we have noticed in recent SASA reports that there are quite a number of birds for which SASA have been unable to establish the cause of death (i.e. the poisons they regularly screen for have not been detected) even though the circumstances of the bird’s death may have been suspicious. If SASA are not already testing for Nitroxynil, we hope that they pay attention to the frequency of detection in Irish cases and consider including it in the list of poisons for which they routinely screen.

Well done to the Irish NPWS and their project partners for getting this report published.

In Scotland we’re still waiting for the promised 2012 wildlife crime report from the Scottish Government. Environment Minister Paul Wheelhouse told the Police Wildlife Crime Conference in March 2013 that his staff were working on the report. Earlier this month, we asked him if he could tell us when we might expect to see it published (see here). According to our calendar (he has to respond within 20 working days), Mr Wheelhouse is due to provide a response to that question, and the other questions we posed, by this coming Wednesday…..

UPDATE 29th July: SASA are on the ball – they’ve recently started to test for Nitroxynil – see here.

“Raptors are thriving on gamekeepered ground”, claims the SGA

There were some interesting sights at the 2013 Scottish Game Fair in early July, including this poster on the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association stand, entitled “Record Numbers of Raptor!!”[sic].

SGA Gamefair 005a

Any casual visitors to the SGA stand could be forgiven for thinking that raptors are doing just fine and there’s no cause for concern; that’s the message the SGA clearly wanted to portray. But let’s just look a bit more closely at their ‘information’, shall we?

You might think, given that this was the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association at the Scottish Game Fair, their raptor figures would just relate to raptors in Scotland. You’d be wrong. Rather disingenuously, they used data relating to raptor figures in the UK as a whole, not just Scottish data, thereby potentially misleading the public to believe that Scotland holds a significantly higher number of breeding raptors than it actually does.

For example, the SGA claims there are 760 pairs of red kites producing 1400+ young per year. Actually, the number of breeding pairs monitored in Scotland in 2012 was 214, with 314 fledged. This is thought to be ‘close to an accurate population estimate’ according to the Scottish Raptor Study Group.

Another example: the SGA claims there are 600 pairs of goshawks producing 1200+ young per year. Actually, the number of breeding pairs in Scotland is more like 150, with an estimated 200 occupied territories in total.

And another example: the SGA claims there are 1600 pairs of peregrines producing 3000+ young per year. Actually, the last national survey of peregrines in Scotland showed 542 breeding pairs, an 8% decline from the previous national survey.

And here’s yet another example: the SGA claims there are 690 pairs of hen harriers producing 1300+ young per year. Actually, the last national survey of hen harriers in Scotland showed 505 pairs, a 20% decline from the previous national survey.

In fact, the data they’ve provided for every species on this list, with the exception of the golden eagle, are a gross exaggeration of the respective Scottish populations of these birds. Did they choose these figures to deliberately mislead the public? Surely not.

In addition to using potentially misleading population figures, the SGA also chose to use data from 2002-2004. That’s a bit odd given that far more up to date data for many species (i.e. from as recently as 2011) are freely available in the public domain (see here). Now, what possible reason could they have for ignoring the more recent facts and figures? Surely nothing to do with the fact that these more recent data directly contradict the following SGA statement:

“That whilst most bird species are in decline raptors are at an all time high, since records began”.

Conveniently, this statement fails to mention the 20% decline in the Scottish hen harrier population, and the 8% decline in the Scottish peregrine population, not to mention the severely constrained Scottish populations of red kites, golden eagles and goshawks, all linked to the effects of illegal persecution taking place on gamekeepered land across Scotland. Funny that, isn’t it?

Even funnier is this photo (below), also pictured at the SGA stand. According to this, ‘Raptors are thriving on gamekeepered ground’. Conveniently (again), the list of raptor species they chose to illustrate this lie statement does not include hen harriers, peregrines, red kites, golden eagles or goshawks. Their statement is right up there with another SGA classic: “Professional gamekeepers do not poison raptors” (see here).

SGA Gamefair 006a

 

Buzzard euthanised after caught in illegal leg-hold trap

More than nine weeks ago, a buzzard was caught in an illegal leg-hold trap. According to local sources this happened on land part-managed for gamebird shooting in central Scotland. The buzzard’s injuries were such that it had to be euthanised.

Police Scotland have still not informed the public about this incident. Why not?

It happened in March, before the Easter Bank Holiday. They’ve had almost ten weeks to inform the public. In whose interest is it to keep this incident a dirty little secret?

We’ve blogged about this a million times before. They don’t have to give away details that might compromise an investigation – all they need to say is that an illegally trapped buzzard has been discovered, it didn’t survive its injuries, and a police investigation is underway. It’s really that simple. Here’s a recent example:

Police Wildlife Crime Officers in Devon & Cornwall Police blogged on 27th May 2013 that two dead buzzards, found in suspicious circumstances, had been reported to them that day. A couple of days later they provided an update to say the birds had been retrieved and had been sent off for toxicology analysis.

Here’s another example:

On 22nd May 2013, Gwent Police appealed for information after a shot peregrine falcon had to be euthanised. The shooting had been reported to the police only two days previously, on 20th May 2013 (see here).

Here’s another example:

On 6th April 2013, Norfolk Constabulary issued a press statement to say that a man had been arrested on suspicion of a number of wildlife crime offences after the discovery of over a dozen dead birds of prey. He had been arrested just two days earlier on 4th April 2013 (see here). [Incidentally, this man’s bail expired on 22nd May and we’re waiting to hear the latest development in this case].

So you see it’s quite possible for police forces to release information in a timely manner when they want to. It’s not as though the public aren’t interested in buzzard conservation in Scotland – a recent petition urging the Scottish Government not to licence a buzzard cull has now reached over 20,000 signatures in about a week (see here and please sign it if you haven’t already done so).

 We’ll repeat the question posed earlier: in whose interest is it for Police Scotland to remain silent about this illegally-trapped buzzard?

Peregrine euthanised after being shot

A peregrine falcon has had to be euthanised after being found injured. The bird had been shot. The incident was reported to the police in Abergavenny in Monmouthshire, south Wales on Monday.

We don’t have any further details.

UPDATE: Gwent police are appealing for info. The bird was found in the Pandy, Abergavenny area. Call police on 101 with info, quoting ref 353 20/5/13.

Landowners & gamekeepers claim ‘misrepresentation’ on BBC’s The One Show

One-Show-smallScottish Land and Estates and the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association have written a letter of complaint to the BBC, claiming ‘misrepresentation’ on The One Show programme.

The programme (see here and here) included a feature on golden eagle persecution and during a studio interview, the RSPB’s Stuart Benn laid the blame firmly at the door of gamekeepers on Scottish grouse moors.

Doug McAdam, Chief Exec of Scottish Land & Estates, took great exception to that statement and wrote a hilarious letter of complaint, on behalf of SLE and SGA, to The One Show’s executive editor, Sandy Smith.

Here is his letter: SLE SGA complaint about BBC One Show

According to dear old Doug, there have only been four dead golden eagles found since 2010 and no charges [for these deaths] have been brought against anyone involved in grouse moor management. Conveniently, he failed to include the other known incidents of dead raptors turning up on grouse moors since 2010 (including white-tailed eagles, red kites, hen harriers, buzzards, short-eared owls, sparrowhawks, peregrines, kestrels), or the critically-injured golden eagle found shot and left to die on a grouse moor, or indeed the satellite-tagged raptors (particularly golden eagles and hen harriers) who have all gone ‘missing’ after their last known signal was received from, er, a grouse moor. There may well be more of these ‘missing’ birds but of course we’re no longer allowed to hear about them after the introduction of the new PAW Scotland ‘protocol’ that aims to keep these incidents away from the public’s gaze (see here).

Apart from trying to play down the extent of persecution incidents on grouse moors, and inferring that a lack of criminal convictions is a good indicator that gamekeepers are not involved with the illegal killing of golden eagles on grouse moors, Doug goes on to emphasise the SLE’s involvement with PAW Scotland, as though membership of that ‘partnership’ should be a measure of good behaviour. We’ve all seen how effective these ‘partnerships’ can be, following the near-extinction of breeding hen harriers on English grouse moors during the six-year Hen Harrier Dialogue ‘partnership’ designed to resolve the conflict. Indeed, three raptor conservation organisations have now resigned from that particular ‘partnership’ because they recognised it could be used as a convenient political cover by certain organisations with grouse-shooting interests.

Doug makes an astonishing claim about the PAW Scotland partnership: “Our combined efforts with the police, rural communities, the RSPB and over 120 other relevant stakeholders have been universally acknowledged as a key factor in reducing the number of raptor persecution incidents“.

Talk about misleading! For a start, there are not 120 ‘relevant stakeholders’ in relation to addressing raptor persecution. Many of the stakeholders have absolutely no involvement in directly addressing raptor persecution – they are there to specifically address other types of wildlife crime such as poaching, theft of freshwater pearl mussels, bat persecution and badger persecution.

Secondly, where does this notion come from that work by PAW Scotland has been ‘universally acknowledged as a key factor in reducing the number of raptor persecution incidents’? Has it been ‘universally acknowledged’? We don’t think PAW Scotland has had any demonstrable impact whatsoever on the number of raptor persecution incidents – where’s the evidence? Perhaps by ‘universal’ he means those with a vested interest in having people think that illegal raptor persecution is being dealt with effectively (e.g. the police, SNH, Scottish Government, SLE, SGA etc etc).

Doug finishes by saying, “Owners of moorland estates all over Scotland look after golden eagles” (ahem) and he invites Sandy Smith to visit a grouse moor “to find out for yourself the valuable conservation measures being implemented“. Let’s hope Sandy takes him up on his offer. Ooh, which grouse moor to choose? We could give Sandy quite a few suggestions….

Sandy Smith responded with a letter of his own: One Show’s reply to SLE

He says he’s sent an email to all One Show staff and suppliers “asking them to ensure they don’t make assumptions about gamekeepers based on out of date or inaccurate assumptions“.

Interestingly, Sandy Smith was the former executive editor of Panorama – a programme recognised for its investigative journalism and an ability to differentiate between fact and PR. Let’s hope he’s taken those qualities with him to The One Show.

We’ve sent a letter to Sandy, giving him the URL of this blog, to ensure his staff are kept up to date and are not basing their work on inaccurate assumptions (spin). You may wish to do the same – send your email, marked for the attention of Sandy Smith, to: TheOneShowEmails@bbc.co.uk

If you think grouse moor owners and their gamekeepers need to be held to account for their activities, please sign this e-petition and share it with your friends and colleagues: SIGN HERE.

Here’s a photo showing how well golden eagles are looked after on some Scottish grouse moors. This one was found critically injured on Buccleuch Estate last aututmn – he had been shot and left to die, although it is not known on whose land he was shot. He is currently recuperating with the SSPCA after undergoing life-saving surgery. Needless to say, nobody has been charged for this crime.

The shot golden eagle undergoing emergency surgery