As expected, the Scottish Government’s announcement on Thursday that it has delayed the implementation of muirburn licensing (for the second time) has been met with anger.
Scottish Greens MSP Ariane Burgess said the Scottish Government has ‘caved to the shooting lobby‘ and accused Ministers of putting the interests of wealthy landowners ahead of environmental protection and public safety.
She is calling for the immediate implementation of muirburn licensing, proper investment in emergency services, and a supported shift away from land management practices that fuel ecological degradation.
Ariane continued:
“This is deeply disappointing. We have just had a summer of devastating wildfires across Scotland, and it is vital that we act rather than backtracking. Yet again, the SNP is bending to the demands of wealthy landowners.
“During the scrutiny of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Act we took detailed evidence on the role of muirburn in wildfire risk. There is very little credible evidence to support the hunting and shooting lobby’s ridiculous claim that these practices have any role in preventing wildfires“.
RSPB Scotland has also published a blog in reaction to the Government’s decision, saying ‘Scotland’s wildlife can’t afford any more delays to muirburn legislation’.
RSPB Senior Land Use Policy Officer Andrew Midgley said it was “a huge disappointment to those of us who wish to see this potentially damaging and often risky activity properly regulated. This is the second time it has been kicked down the road.
“On the very same day, in a sadly ironic twist, muirburn that was reported as being conducted on a grouse moor in Aberdeenshire got out of control and started a wildfire. The wildfire spread onto a neighbouring National Nature Reserve managed by the Government agency NatureScot, and burnt into woodland that is part of our network of internationally important nature conservation sites. That this occurred is no cause for gloating. It’s a tragic lesson in why regulation is needed without further delay.
“It’s now nearly six years since an independent group recommended that the regulation of burning in the hills be strengthened and it’s eighteen months since the legislation was passed in the Scottish Parliament. It was acknowledged that muirburn is a high-risk land management activity that should be carefully managed and that regulation would help. This latest delay is further evidence that the Government and NatureScot are failing to properly get a grasp of this issue“.
The out-of-control muirburn that was started on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park on Thursday, just a few hours after the Scottish Government’s announcement, is thought to have had a 3km wide front and has burned approximately 200ha.
Local sources have reported that the fire burned approximately 5ha of the Muir of Dinnet National Nature Reserve before the Scottish Fire & Rescue Service were able to get it under control.
A scene from the aftermath, from @kredp.bsky.social
Why on earth gamekeepers were lighting fires under conditions known to present a high risk factor remains to be answered. But in a masterclass of irony, SGA Committee member Ronnie Kippen posted this on the same day:
You’re dead right, Ronnie, it was only a matter of time (just a few hours, in fact) before another massive wildfire erupted in the Cairngorms National Park ‘due to mismanagement of habitat’.
Strangely, I haven’t seen any of the usual suspects shouting about the Dinnet wildfire – in complete contrast to the publicity they’ve given to other wildfires this year where grouse moor management wasn’t thought to be implicated.
Meanwhile, the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) has welcomed the Government’s decision to delay muirburn licensing, describing it as “common sense“.
No surprise really, this is the same organisation that thinks White-tailed Eagles could eat small children, that “strongly believe the goshawk never was indigenous to the United Kingdom and there is absolutely no hard evidence to suggest otherwise” (here), that think it’s “unfair to accuse gamekeepers of wildlife crime” (here) and plenty of other examples of assorted nonsense.
The SGA’s statement in response to the muirburn licensing delay concludes with this statement:
“The SGA supports the Minister’s move and looks forward to making future changes more workable, drawing on our members’ centuries of knowledge in this area“.
“Making future changes more workable”? That suggests that the SGA is willing to accept the principle of muirburn licensing, albeit with “future changes“.
However, if you look closely at the list of amendments put forward to Stage 3 of the Land Reform Bill (due to be debated at the end of this month), you’ll see that Tim Eagle MSP (Scottish Conservative, Highlands & Islands) has lodged an amendment to repeal muirburn licensing altogether:
I doubt very much whether Mr Eagle has lodged this amendment without the lobbying, encouragement and support of the land management sector – I wonder whether the SGA has been part of that lobbying effort?
It’s good to see another amendment, lodged by Ariane Burgess MSP, calling for peatland to be redefined as that having 30cm depth instead of 40cm depth, which would bring it in line with the new definition in England.
UPDATE 13 October 2025: ‘The problem, which the Scottish Government is willfully ignoring, is that muirburn is responsible for a large number of wildfires’ (here)
UPDATE 30 October 2025: Scottish Govt fiddles while grouse moors burn (here)
A former gamekeeper has been sentenced after being found guilty of two wildlife crime offences relating to the digging and blocking of a badger sett in Fife.
Dylan Boyle, 52, from Avonbridge, Falkirk, had been filmed on 10 January 2023 by a field officer from the League Against Cruel Sports who was monitoring the activities of the Fife Fox Hunt on farmland near Cupar, which terrier man Boyle was operating alongside that day.
Footage showed Boyle digging in to an active badger sett with a spade and deliberately blocking entrances to the sett with rocks, nets and earth using a spade. A fox that bolted from the sett was shot and killed.
Screen grab from LACS video footage of Boyle taking photos whilst a dog savages a fox that had bolted from the badger sett that Boyle had been digging up
Boyle had pleaded not guilty to a number of wildlife crime offences and faced trial at Kirkaldy Sheriff Court in September 2024. Boyle’s defence team relied on testimony from an expert witness who happened to be the ‘chief’ of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association’s ‘training centre’. That expert witness reportedly told the court that he’d viewed the footage of Boyle and had ‘not seen anything wrong’ in Boyle’s actions of deliberately interfering with an active badger sett, contrary to the Protection of Badgers Act 1992.
That is deeply concerning given the SGA’s positioning to be a training provider for those operating under the new Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024.
Boyle told the court that it wasn’t an active badger sett and that badgers ‘must have moved in overnight’ the evening after Boyle had been filmed.
Boyle’s implausible explanation was not accepted by the court and he was found guilty of two offences but sentencing was deferred for six months for Boyle ‘to be on good behaviour’ (see here).
Appearing for sentencing at Kirkaldy Sheriff Court last week, Sheriff Mark Allen fined Boyle a pathetic £400 after hearing he had ‘been of good behaviour’ since his conviction.
Penalties for interfering with a badger sett include a maximum of 12 months imprisonment and / or a £40,000 fine.
Robbie Marsland, Director of the League Against Cruel Sports in Scotland said:
“Despite Scotland having some of the strongest animal welfare legislation in the UK, the courts too often issue modest penalties for wildlife crimes.
“Mr. Boyle’s actions demonstrated wanton cruelty and a disregard for the law but sentences like this provide little deterrent to those who harm wildlife.
“If we are serious about protecting Scotland’s wildlife, meaningful penalties that reflect the severity of these crimes are required to serve as a deterrent.
“While this case should remind those who harm wildlife that our cameras are everywhere, it should also prompt a serious reconsideration of how our justice system responds to animal cruelty“.
Last November the BBC aired an episode of Highland Cops (Series 2, Episode 4) that featured a Police Scotland Wildlife Crime Officer, PC Dan Sutherland, investigating the suspicious disappearance of a satellite-tagged golden eagle on a grouse moor in the Highlands (available for next 9 months on iPlayer here, starts at 35.15 mins).
The programme followed PC Sutherland, along with an RSPB Investigations Officer, searching the moor for evidence of either the eagle or its tag.
PC Sutherland is an experienced WCO and he explained that this wasn’t the first time he’d been involved in an investigation into this type of incident and he gave a comprehensive commentary on the lengths that offenders will go to to hide the evidence of their crimes (e.g. tags being burned, tags being tied to rocks and dumped in lochs).
He also said: “So within Highlands & Islands, 100% of all birds of prey that are being killed happen on or near land that’s managed for gamebird shooting“.
The Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) lodged a formal complaint to the BBC about what the SGA described in its quarterly members’ rag as having “caused unfair reputation [sic] damage” to the game-shooting industry and wanted the BBC to make “a prominent correction“.
Here’s the response from the BBC’s Executive Complaints Unit, published 13 February 2025:
It shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone, not least the SGA, that this complaint was not upheld. The Scottish Parliament voted overwhelmingly last year to introduce new legislation (Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024) precisely because raptor persecution, and particularly the illegal killing of golden eagles, persists on many driven grouse moors.
Well done PC Sutherland for saying it as it is, and well done to the BBC for not pandering to the histrionics of the SGA.
Last Friday I was contacted by a journalist from the Scottish Daily Mail who asked me this:
“I wondered if it would be possible to get a comment from Raptor Persecution UK about the Scottish Gamekeepers Association claiming that ‘insults’ made about them and the work they do on Raptor Persecution UK’s blog is taking its toll on members. In the recent chairman’s column, he claims ‘skilled predator management is now dressed up by campaigners as ‘casual killing’. What is Raptor Persecution UK’s response to this.
It’s for tomorrow’s paper, so a response today would be much appreciated“.
The thing was, I hadn’t read the ‘Chairman’s column’ she referred to. I guessed she was referring to the SGA’s latest quarterly rag for members, ‘Scottish Gamekeeper‘, which hadn’t yet been published (it’s due out this weekend).
It seemed pretty obvious to me then, that someone from the SGA was attempting to plant yet another story in the press, portraying themselves as ‘victims’, presumably in a pathetic attempt to elicit public support and sympathy for their wildlife-killing ways. We’ve been here before (e.g. here in 2021), although to do it at Christmas-time seemed more than a little cynical.
Normally I wouldn’t give the time of day to a journalist from the Mail but as she’d asked so nicely I thought it would be rude not to respond.
I told the journalist that given the SGA’s members’ long-running and well-documented campaign of vitriol and hatred against those of us who campaign against the illegal killing of birds of prey by gamekeepers on shooting estates (e.g. see here and here), this latest attempt to present themselves as victims of ‘insults’ was risible.
Are these the same gamekeepers who, for the duration of this last month, have been sharing an ‘advent calendar of abuse’ on social media, this time targeting named staff members of the RSPB?
This ‘advent calendar of abuse’ is written and published by the grouse shooting industry’s very own hateful astroturfers, C4PMC (see here for an insight in to who they really are), and C4PMC has form for it.
They first started publishing these vindictive narratives in December 2020 (during a Coronavirus lockdown, no less) where each day they targeted a named individual known to campaign against driven grouse shooting. Those targeted included all the usual suspects (me, Chris Packham, various RSPB staff members, raptor fieldworkers, conservationists, even politicians), and guess who was involved in spreading that malicious abuse via their own social media accounts?
Yep, the SGA and friends, including former SGA Director and regular SGA columnist Bert Burnett, and several members of the Scottish Regional Moorlands Group, including the Angus Glens Moorland Group, Speyside Moorland Group, Southern Uplands Moorland Group, Tayside Moorland Group and the Grampian Moorland Group. Here are some examples:
And now they’re actually claiming that ‘insults’ are ‘taking their toll’ on SGA members?!
I also told the journalist, on the issue of ‘casual killing’, recent research has demonstrated that up to a quarter of a million animals are killed on Scotland’s grouse moors each year (in addition to all the gamebirds that are killed), and nearly half of those animals are non-target species (e.g. Hedgehogs, Dippers, Mistle Thrushes). I’d argue that referring to this as ‘casual killing’ is not an ‘insult’, it’s justified criticism.
I also told the journalist that whilst I thought that limited and targeted predator control, in some circumstances, for the conservation of threatened species, is justifiable, the wholesale slaughter of wildlife, just to protect gamebirds that are later shot and killed for so-called ‘sport’, is, in my opinion, inexcusable.
If you’re killing wildlife for a living, in order for others to pay some money to kill even more wildlife just for fun, don’t be surprised when others have legitimate concerns about it.
Funnily enough, the article in the Scottish Daily Mail never materialised. When I asked the journalist what had happened to it, she said the editor had pulled it.
Perhaps there was a realisation that the world according to the SGA was just too embarrassing, even for the Mail!
A proposal to translocate white-tailed eagles to Cumbria that has been in development for a number of years (see here) has reached the public consultation stage.
The Cumbrian White-tailed Eagle Project is being overseen by a steering group comprising the University of Cumbria, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, The Lifescape Project, RSPB, the Wildland Institute, the Lake District National Park Authority alongside local estate owners and managers.
According to the steering group, research has indicated that Cumbria has sufficient suitable habitat to support a population of white-tailed eagles and the county is considered an important strategic location to encourage links between other populations in Scotland, Ireland and Northern Ireland and the south of England.
The group is now engaging with the public to listen to views on bringing back this species to Cumbria and has begun a series of drop-in sessions, meetings and workshops (details here).
Unsurprisingly, this news has triggered the usual idiotic fear-mongering hysteria about white-tailed eagles based on ignorance and a persistent Victorian attitude to raptors, led, of course, by The Telegraph:
This is just lazy journalism. Had The Telegraph bothered to undertake any research at all, it would know that a series of scientific studies have shown that white-tailed eagles are generalist predators with a broad diet, and the most recent study from Scotland (here) shows that lambs are not an important food source for this species but marine prey is. This finding is also supported by a recent dietary study from the WTE Isle of Wight Reintroduction Project (here), which also concluded “there have been no cases of livestock predation since the project began“.
The hysteria was continued by this tweet from Mark Robinson, a farmer in North Yorkshire whose Twitter bio says he’s also the Reform Party spokesperson for the Thirsk and Malton Constituency (having failed to get elected in June). According to Farmer Robinson, the eagles will be ‘snatching up babies’ -:
It sounds like Farmer Robinson has been reading the discredited guff of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, who has previously written to the Scottish Government about concerns that white-tailed eagles might eat children (here).
UPDATE 23 October 2025: Should White-tailed Eagles be reintroduced to Cumbria? Another questionnaire seeks your views (here)
Last week 51-year old Dylan Boyle was found guilty at Kirkaldy Sheriff Court in connection with the digging and blocking of an active badger sett during an outing with the Fife Fox Hunt in January 2023 (see Police Scotland press statement here, where the police describe Boyle’s actions as “reckless and deplorable“).
This is an interesting case, not just because Boyle is reportedly an ex-gamekeeper but because part of his (unsuccessful) defence was apparently based upon testimony from an expert witness who just happens to be the ‘chief’ of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association’s (SGA) ‘training centre’.
Why is that important? Well, because the SGA is positioning itself to provide the mandatory training courses as required by those operating grouse moor licences under the new Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024.
I’ll come back to that. First, here’s some more important background information about the case, as provided in a press release by the League Against Cruel Sports (Scotland) –
Man found guilty on two charges for wildlife crimes
Charge 1, digging a badger sett. Contrary to the Protection of Badgers Act 1992.
Charge 2, blocking a badger sett. Contrary to the Protection of Badgers Act 1992.
A former terrier man with the Berwickshire and Fife Fox Hunts, Dylan Boyle, has been found guilty on two charges related to the destruction of a badger sett, by digging into an active badger sett and deliberately blocking entrances to the sett with rocks, nets and earth using a spade. The conviction was supported by covert film evidence captured by the animal charity, League Against Cruel Sports.
Dylan Boyle, aged 52, a transport officer who lives in Avonbridge, pled not guilty at a three-day trial which concluded on Friday 13th September 2024 at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court.
Sentencing was deferred until the 13th of March 2025, but potential penalties for interfering with a badger sett include a maximum of 12 months imprisonment and / or a £40,000 fine.
The incident, which took place in January 2023 near Cupar, was witnessed and filmed by a Field Research and Investigations Officer for the League Against Cruel Sports who was monitoring the activities of the Fife Fox Hunt, which the terrier man was operating alongside at the time.
During the three-day trial the court was shown video footage of Boyle digging a badger sett. The League Against Cruel Sports investigator also gave verbal evidence relating to the blocking of the badger sett entrances.
On the second day of the trial three other charges were dropped. Two of these related to the treatment of a fox, in which it had been alleged Boyle had pulled a fox out from underground, shot it twice and encouraged his dog to attack and bite at the fox.
Screen grab from video footage of Boyle taking photos whilst a dog savages a fox that Boyle had dug out from a badger sett
The third charge to be dropped was the entering of a dog into an active badger sett, a serious offence concerning the welfare of the protected badgers as well as the dog. According to the Sheriff, the evidence that was presented in court by the Fiscal Prosecutions Officer was not sufficient to bring about a conviction on this occasion. During the final day’s trial, Boyle admitted entering his dog underground.
Sheriff Mark Alan found Boyle guilty on the charges of digging a badger sett and blocking a badger sett, both contrary to the Protection of Badgers Act 1992.
The Sheriff, in summing up, commented that he was very satisfied with the evidence given by the experts from the League Against Cruel Sports, stating that he was “satisfied that Boyle knowingly dug and blocked an active badger sett with disregard to the welfare of the badgers”.
The Sheriff also stated that if Boyle is caught committing further crimes between now and his sentencing in March 2025, then he could be facing jail time.
Robbie Marsland, Director of Scotland and Northern Ireland for League Against Cruel Sports, welcomed the guilty verdict and said:
“I’m very pleased that the League Against Cruel Sports’ vigilant fieldworkers were able to provide Police Scotland with video evidence that led to this successful conviction.
“Crimes against wildlife are all too common in Scotland and I hope this case will serve to remind people like Mr Boyle that our cameras can be anywhere.”
ENDS
The League Against Cruel Sports has published its video footage of the crime scene which provides an insight of Boyle’s offences:
As mentioned above, it’s reported that the defence called Alan Tweedie as an expert witness to defend Boyle’s actions. Alan Tweedie is the SGA’s Training Centre ‘chief’ (here).
According to a member of the public who attended the trial, Tweedie told the court he was an ex-gamekeeper and is now self-employed and works for the SGA providing training courses for gamekeepers.
Tweedie was asked whether he had seen the video evidence, and he told the court that he had. He was asked whether he’d seen anything in the video footage that he thought was wrong and Tweedie reportedly told the court that he saw nothing wrong in Boyle’s actions.
Given Boyle’s subsequent convictions, based on the League’s video evidence, it’s of significant concern that Alan Tweedie didn’t spot the wildlife crime offences described by Police Scotland as “reckless and deplorable”.
If this is the view of the SGA’s ‘training centre chief’ what confidence can be placed in the SGA’s ability to provide suitable training that would meet the requirements of the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024?
I should say here that I’m far as I’m aware, it hasn’t yet been decided who will provide the training requirements brought in under the new legislation. I understand that NatureScot has been consulting with a number of organisations (including animal welfare and conservation groups) about its proposed plans but that these discussions have so far mostly focused on the training content rather than who will deliver it. Although if you look on the SGA’s website, the SGA is quite clearly positioning itself to deliver the training elements associated with corvid and spring trap use (see here).
One to watch.
UPDATE 17.00hrs: There’s more commentary on the trial written by Jamie McKenzie in an article posted on 18 September in The Courier, although it sits behind a paywall. Here are the interesting bits:
Former gamekeeper Dylan Boyle, 51, was filmed by investigators from the League Against Cruel Sports (LACS) at a farm at Letham, near Cupar, on January 10 last year.
During a trial at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court he had denied two charges of interfering with a badger sett by digging and damaging it and obstructing access by blocking an entrance with rocks.
Boyle, of Avonbridge near Falkirk, told the trial he had been there with a terrier dog to control foxes that day.
He insisted it was not an active badger sett and he only saw fox holes.
The trial heard an ecologist and police officer went to the site the next day and found tell-tale signs of an active badger sett, as had an LACS investigator on the day of the offence.
The court heard key indicators included D-shaped entrance holes – fox holes are more oval-shaped – and badger hair, scratch marks, bedding material and latrines.
Prosecutor Gerard Drugan put to Boyle he was suggesting experts were wrong about the presence of badger holes, to which the accused replied: “That could have happened the night before – they (experts) were there the following day.”
Mr Drugan said: “Your position is that somehow, overnight, badgers moved into the locus and reshaped the holes?”
Boyle replied: “Yes.”
The fiscal depute said: “But (the LACS investigator) saw they were badger holes?”
Boyle, who said he had studied gamekeeping and wildlife management at college, said: “He could be wrong.”
The fiscal said: “People who have spent a long time being involved with badgers are wrong?
“(The LACS investigator) was wrong,” Boyle responded.
Sheriff Mark Allan said he was satisfied it was an active badger sett on the key date and found Boyle guilty of two charges in contravention of the Protection of Badgers Act 1992.
The sheriff told Boyle: “I am satisfied you both dug the badger sett and obstructed the sett and did so with reckless disregard as to the consequences of your actions.”
Making reference to Boyle’s own background, education and knowledge, the sheriff said: “You should take care, you should not show reckless disregard for what it was you were doing on that particular occasion.
“You require to be careful and ensure what you are not doing is interfering with a badger sett.”
Sentence was deferred for six months, until March 13, for Boyle to be of good behaviour.
ENDS
UPDATE 18 March 2025: Former Scottish gamekeeper receives pathetic sentence for digging Badger sett (here)
The Scottish Gamekeepers Association (SGA) has a track record of submitting pointless petitions to the Scottish Parliament that needlessly tie up valuable parliamentary time (e.g. see here).
[‘Pointless’ as in had the SGA done its research it would already know that what it was proposing was already established policy].
Another pointless SGA petition crashed and burned yesterday, this time after almost two years of consideration.
This one (Petition number PE1966) was lodged on 7 September 2022 and called for, ‘The Scottish Government to formally recognise local knowledge and ensure it is given full consideration alongside scientific knowledge throughout consultation, decision-making processes and in policy development, specifically within the conservation arena‘.
It was lodged at a time when the SGA felt more aggrieved than usual, on the back of the Scottish Government announcing that it intended to bring in grouse moor licensing to deal with the decades-long criminality associated with the illegal killing of raptors on Scottish grouse moors. I’m guessing that the petition was timed in a desperate attempt to influence the passage of the Wildlife Management & Muirburn Bill. If that was indeed the intention, the SGA failed miserably.
The text of petition PE1966 was what I’d call a word salad – lots of scientific-sounding sentences that looked like they’d been cut and pasted from various academic sources but when strung together were neither coherent or convincing. You can judge it for yourself here:
Obviously PE1966 was received with great enthusiasm by the Petitions Committee, whose current membership includes the SNP’s Fergus Ewing MSP, who also just happens to be an SGA-member, has previously described himself as “a friend in Government” [to the SGA] and has controversially donated to the SGA’s fundraising auction.
In addition to Fergus Ewing, the Committee is chaired by Conservative Jackson Carlaw MSP, whose questionable behaviour, along with that of Fergus Ewing, has been the subject of an earlier blog (see here).
The Committee took the opportunity (as is its role) to ask questions of NatureScot and the Scottish Government about the SGA’s complaints, including a missive from Fergus Ewing about why the SGA wasn’t represented on the NatureScot Board (yes, seriously!).
The responses from both the Scottish Government and NatureScot easily rebutted the challenges and effectively handed the SGA it’s arse on a plate – you can read the various correspondence letters here. (Click on ‘Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee Consideration‘ and then click on ‘Written Submissions‘).
This resulted in Petition 1966 going absolutely nowhere and it was formally closed during yesterday’s session, but not before Ewing & Carlaw had a chance to regurgitate some slurs on the SGA’s behalf.
I find it somewhat ironic that the SGA is complaining about its views not being taken seriously by politicians when a number of its members have, for several years, openly engaged in the most vile and misogynistic online abuse of some of Scotland’s politicians, especially towards former Minister Lorna Slater and former First Minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Here’s one of many recent examples, this one published in March this year:
This deeply offensive tweet was viewed 422 times on Twitter and received one repost and 5 likes. Not a single person challenged him about it.
Posted on Twitter under the name of Bob Connelly with a username of @curlybob69, this person describes himself as a Perthshire gamekeeper and he’s wearing an SGA pin badge in his header photo:
An identical profile is used for a Facebook account under the same name:
This looks like the same gamekeeper called Bob Connelly who featured in an article published by The Courier a couple of years ago, which laughingly asked, ‘Are gamekeepers victim of a hate campaign‘??!! (see here).
I wonder if it’s the same Bob Connelly who is listed at Companies House as a Director of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association’s Charitable Trust?
Is posting repugnant, misogynistic online abuse towards a female politician fitting behaviour of a charity Trustee? That would be a question for the SGA.
Is posting repugnant, misogynistic online abuse towards a female politician fitting behaviour of a Director of an organisation that’s demanding parliamentary time, attention and recognition? That would also be a question for the SGA but also for the politicians.
Is posting repugnant, misogynistic online abuse towards a female politician fitting behaviour of a shotgun certificate/firearms licence holder? That would be a question for the Chief Constable of Police Scotland.
Elena is the Scottish Parliament’s Hen Harrier Species Champion, an initiative set up by Scottish Environment LINK to encourage MSPs to champion threatened and iconic species and habitats.
She was lucky enough to see a food pass between the breeding adults during her visit.
Strangely, the chairman of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, Alex Hogg, recently told a parliamentary committee that the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve was a “species desert” and “there is nothing there at all” [now that it’s no longer being managed as a driven grouse moor].
I’ll return to Hogg’s parliamentary evidence session in a separate blog because it was quite something and it even prompted the RSPB to write to the committee to correct his false claims.
Cast your mind back to November 2023 when Police Scotland issued an appeal for information about the suspicious disappearance of a satellite-tagged golden eagle in the Scottish Borders in October 2023, which Police said at the time they believed “has come to harm” (see here).
We later learned that this young golden eagle, called ‘Merrick’, was part of the South Scotland Golden Eagle Project, a lottery-funded conservation initiative which is translocating young golden eagles from various sites across Scotland to boost the tiny remnants of the golden eagle breeding population in south Scotland (see here).
Camera trap photo of golden eagle Merrick, from South Scotland Golden Eagle Project
Recent research has demonstrated the need for these translocations as golden eagles from further north in Scotland rarely visit south Scotland of their own accord (see here) so without translocations the golden eagle population in south Scotland was at serious risk of extirpation, especially with the ongoing persecution of these local eagles (e.g. see here), despite the desperate denial of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association (see here).
Today there has been a further update about the police investigation into the disappearance of golden eagle Merrick, with a press release issued by the South Scotland Golden Eagle Project. It is revealed that Police Scotland believe Merrick was “shot and killed” whilst sleeping in a tree before “someone then removed her body and destroyed her satellite tag“.
I’m going to reproduce the press release below, but then I’m going to discuss what wasn’t said in the press release because I always find the omissions more interesting.
Bear in mind when you read this press release that it was constructed by all the project partners involved in the South Scotland Golden Eagle Project, including those from the grouse-shooting lobby, who, unsurprisingly, appear to have used it as a vehicle to pump out some gratuitous pro-grouse shooting material.
I’m told by other project partners that this press release has been argued over for months, presumably because some partners wanted to do a damage-limitation job on it. Kudos to the Project team though for at least getting something out and providing a good deal of transparency about the circumstances of this eagle’s disappearance.
Here’s the press release – all photos supplied by South Scotland Golden Eagle Project. My comments will follow underneath:
PERSECUTION SUSPECTED IN DISAPPEARANCE OF GOLDEN EAGLE MERRICK
Following an investigation by Police Scotland, representatives for a groundbreaking conservation initiative, which attributes its success to overwhelming support from the public, raptor workers and land managers, have today (Wednesday 1 May 2024) confirmed that they are confident Merrick the golden eagle’s disappearance is due to persecution.
Merrick (F43), a female golden eagle that the project team translocated to southern Scotland in 2022, was reported missing in autumn 2023. With permission from Police Scotland, further information about the circumstances of Merrick’s disappearance and the evidence left behind can now be revealed.
Sharing further details, Project Manager, Dr Cat Barlow said: “We can confirm that Police Scotland has found clear evidence that a wildlife crime has been committed. They are confident Merrick’s disappearance was due to persecution.
“The South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project is incredibly angry, upset and disappointed that her disappearance appears to have been at the hands of an individual or individuals who consider themselves above the law.
“The Project’s translocated eagles have captured the hearts and minds of all our supporters, from conservationists, and raptor workers to landowners and the wider community, including children, visitors and business operators, who all share in our utter shock and disappointment.
“However, this incident, and the staunch support we have had, makes us utterly determined to fight the persecution of golden eagles and continue our successful translocation work to reinstate a resilient population of golden eagles across southern Scotland.”
Chair of the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project, Dumfriesshire farmer Michael Clarke added: “Whoever committed this deplorable wildlife crime should hang their heads in shame. Golden eagles are back to stay in the South of Scotland, and we very much hope they continue to spread from here to all parts of the UK.
“We thank everyone for their support at this tough time. We are grateful to Police Scotland for their support and using all the resources at their disposal to establish the full circumstances. We remain more determined than ever to establish a sustainable population of golden eagles in the South of Scotland.”
Merrick (F43) originated from Rottal Estate near Kirriemuir in the Angus Glens, a traditional sporting estate, which is accredited by Wildlife Estates Scotland (WES) for its commitment to protecting and restoring wildlife and biodiversity. Speaking about her disappearance, estate owner and Chair of Scottish Land & Estates (SLE) Dee Ward said: “We utterly condemn raptor persecution in the strongest possible terms and it is right and proper that anyone who commits such an act is prosecuted and convicted.
“Merrick is an eagle our own family estate donated to the project and we’re incredibly proud of the part we and many other estates, land managers and gamekeepers have played in the success of the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project. Indeed, the project has otherwise been an incredible success built on respect and co-operation between keepers, farmers, foresters and raptor conservationists.
“This incident makes us all the more passionate about continuing that support and we will do all we can to prevent, detect and condemn anyone who thinks this kind of abhorrent behaviour is acceptable.”
Merrick was the fifth eagle collected in the summer of 2022, the last to leave the aviaries, and the heaviest eagle translocated that summer, at 5.2 kg. She was named after the highest peak in the Southern Uplands, by the South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project’s host charity, the Southern Uplands Partnership (SUP).
The project team has followed Merrick’s journey since her release using round-the-clock surveillance techniques, alongside reports of sightings from the Moorland Association and shooting estates across the country. She was thriving before her disappearance and exploring widely across the south of Scotland and Northern England. She was even photographed on a trip to Weardale and filmed in Nidderdale Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.
Each of the project’s eagles are fitted with a state-of-the-art satellite tag which transmits regular, reliable and accurate information about the birds’ wellbeing and movements. Until her disappearance, Merrick’s tag had been transmitting normally. During the eight days before her disappearance, she was exploring the Moorfoot Hills. Then on 12 October, her tag suddenly stopped transmitting, indicating “no malfunction”, which strongly suggested human interference.
On a visit to check on a juvenile eagle in the area, Eagle Officer, John Wright, inspected the relatively bare branches of a Sitka Spruce, Merrick’s last known roosting spot. He very quickly noticed a small golden lanceolate shaped head feather, two small wing coverts and some white under-down laying on the moss directly below the tree. Recalling his visit to the site, John said: “I saw a film of blood stretched across the grass stems. It subsequently turned out that a considerable amount of blood was present in and below the moss layer. As I stood back from the feather and blood location, I could see small downy feathers scattered in the dense spruce foliage below the roosting branches.
“Merrick had been roosting (sleeping perched) in a tree when her tag stopped transmitting. Golden eagles, as apex predator, have very few natural predators and so fears that Merrick had been fatally injured whilst roosting were quickly dismissed. Police Scotland have told us that they are confident humans were involved in the demise of this eagle.”
The Project team contacted Police Scotland, who promptly reached the site before weather destroyed any evidence to investigate the incident. This allowed them to confidently eliminate most other potential causes of death or disappearance. The nature and pattern of feathers and blood, and all other evidence, indicated to the Police that Merrick was shot and killed.
Dr Cat Barlow said: “Looking at the evidence, Police Scotland believe she was shot then fell to the ground, where she bled considerably through a single wound. Police Scotland believe that someone then removed her body and destroyed her satellite tag.”
In November, Police Scotland issued a statement stating that they believed she had “come to harm” and were treating her disappearance as “suspicious.”
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. I urge anyone with any information 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.”
The South of Scotland Golden Eagle Project partners the Southern Uplands Partnership, RSPB Scotland, Scottish Land & Estates, Scottish Forestry, GWCT and NatureScot all share in the bitter disappointment of today’s news.
Since the first chicks were released in 2018, the project has had significant success, quadrupling the local population of golden eagles to the highest number seen in the area for centuries. Survival rates of the translocated birds are 90%, which is incredibly high.
The translocated golden eagles regularly and safely visit upland areas, which are managed for shooting and are a natural habitat for the golden eagle. The project has had excellent support from shooting estates in the area, who have worked with the team in many ways to ensure golden eagles thrive in southern skies – from the provision of chicks to supporting the development of artificial eyries in a safe place on their land.
That last image is what I want to focus on. It shows the location of Merrick’s last known roost spot and where her blood and feathers were found.
According to Andy Wightman’s fantastic Who Owns Scotland website (if you don’t already subscribe I recommend you do), this location is several metres from the boundary of Raeshaw Estate in the Moorfoot Hills.
RPUK map showing the boundary of Raeshaw Estate, derived from data on the Who OwnsScotland website
Screen grab from Who Owns Scotland website, annotated by RPUK, showing the proximity of Merrick’s last known location and the Raeshaw Estate (shaded in blue)
It struck me as odd that in the press release, although there are frequent references to how great ‘traditional sporting estates’ are for golden eagle conservation (and in the case of Rottal Estate where Merrick hatched, justifiably so), nobody seemed to want to mention the proximity of Merrick’s last known location and the discovery of her feathers and blood to the ‘traditional sporting estate’ known as Raeshaw. Why is that?
It would seem quite a significant piece of information to me, given that government-funded scientific research has identified a link between the proximity of some driven grouse moors and golden eagle persecution in Scotland. Not all driven grouse moors, but some.
Regular blog readers will recognise the name of Raeshaw Estate. I’ve blogged about it many times before as this was one of the first estates to be hit with a General Licence restriction back in 2015 based on ‘evidence provided by Police Scotland of wildlife crime against birds‘ although there was insufficient evidence to link the crimes to a named individual (see here), hence the GL restriction as opposed to a prosecution.
Raeshaw took NatureScot to court to challenge the decision under judicial review but lost the case after the court considered NatureScot’s decision to be lawful (here).
During the time Raeshaw was serving a General Licence restriction, employees applied for an individual licence to permit the continued (lawful) killing of so-called ‘pest’ birds on the estate (e.g. 1,000 birds reported killed under one of these licences, see here), but then even the individual licence was later revoked after NatureScot found ‘multiple instances of breaches of conditions of an individual licence that had been granted to cover essential management activities‘ (see here).
NatureScot also said, ‘These breaches may also constitute offences under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, so SNH has reported the details to Police Scotland‘. I’m not aware of any subsequent prosecution in relation to those alleged offences.
It’s worth pointing out here that as far as I’m aware, nobody from the Raeshaw Estate has ever been prosecuted for any of the alleged wildlife crimes reported from this area.
It’s also worth pointing out that, just because Merrick’s last known location and the discovery of her blood and feathers was just several metres from Raeshaw Estate’s boundary, that doesn’t mean we can automatically assume that anyone associated with Raeshaw Estate was involved. There’s no direct evidence to demonstrate a link. Indeed, I heard on the grapevine that Police Scotland was refused permission to obtain a search warrant because the Crown Office didn’t consider there was sufficient evidence to justify it.
According to Andy Wightman’s research, Raeshaw Estate is owned by an overseas entity called Raeshaw Holdings Ltd, which according to Companies House is registered in the tax haven of Jersey (here). Last year it was reported that the beneficial owner of Raeshaw was billionaire Tory donor Louis Moore Bacon.
The sporting elements of the estate are managed by one of ‘grouse moor guru’ Mark Osborne’s companies, a sporting agency called ‘JM Osborne Rural and Sporting‘. Members of the grouse shooting industry, who you’ll recall routinely profess to have a zero tolerance policy towards raptor persecution, even in the press release above, clearly do not consider there to be any link with the apparent shooting and killing of Merrick and anyone employed on Raeshaw Estate. If they did, various gamekeeping organisations such as the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, National Gamekeepers Organisation, Southern Uplands Moorland Group and the Angus Glens Moorland Group wouldn’t this week be promoting on social media the latest gamekeeper vacancy on what is described as the ‘prestigious’ and ‘cracking’ Raeshaw Estate:
Screen grab from the Scottish Gamekeepers Association’s Facebook page, 30 April 2024
Screen grab from the National Gamekeepers Organisation’s Facebook page, 29 April 2024
Screen grab from the Facebook pages of gamekeeping organisations the Angus Glens Moorland Group & Southern Uplands Moorland Group, 29 April 2024
And grouse moor lobby group Scottish Land & Estates certainly wouldn’t be providing regular, full page advertising space in its quarterly LandBusiness magazine to any of Mr Osborne’s companies (JM Osborne Rural & Sporting and his gun-making company William Powell) if it considered there was any link:
Screen grab from SLE’s LandBusiness Magazine, Autumn 2022
Screen grab from SLE’s LandBusiness Magazine, Spring 2024
And pro-game shooting charity Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) certainly wouldn’t be accepting generous raffle prizes worth a value of tens of thousands of pounds from any company even suspected of having a link to raptor persecution – see here and:
Screen grab from GWCT website
And surely neither would the British Association for Shooting & Conservation (BASC) be accepting generous raffle prizes worth £13,000:
Screen grab from BASC website
To summarise then:
Golden eagle Merrick, like so many satellite-tagged golden eagles before her, ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances in October 2023.
Some of her feathers were found next to pools of her blood at her last known roost site.
Police Scotland believe she was ‘shot and killed’.
Although this incident took place in close proximity to the boundary of Raeshaw Estate, there is no suggestion whatsoever that anyone there was involved.
Police Scotland found no evidence to allow them to arrest and charge anyone in connection with Merrick’s disappearance or death.
Many of you will know that Professor Colin Galbraith was appointed Chair of NatureScot’s Board last year (see here); a four year appointment until June 2027.
Screen grab from NatureScot website
Professor Galbraith was invited to speak at the Scottish Gamekeepers Association’s (SGA) recent AGM (1 March 2024) and I was curious about what he said to them. This is pertinent to another issue that I’ll come on to in another blog.
I submitted an FoI to NatureScot asking for, amongst other things, a copy of Professor Galbraith’s presentation to the SGA.
Here’s part of the response I received from NatureScot:
Here is a copy of the bullet points provided to Professor Galbraith by NatureScot staff for his speech at the SGA’s AGM:
Raptor Persecution UK 