Police in rural Perthshire are appealing for information after a red kite was found dead after being poisoned. The bird was found in the Strathtay area, near Aberfeldy, at the end of July. Tayside Police confirmed to-day that tests carried out by SASA had established that the bird had been poisoned. Though it is the first red kite to have been found poisoned in Strathtay, over the past 15 years police have recovered 14 buzzards, two tawny owls, two sparrowhawks, two crows, a common gull, a polecat and a domestic cat from the same area, all of which had been poisoned. In addition a total of 12 poisoned baits have been recovered all from the same estate. Alan Stewart, Tayside Police wildlife crime officer, said: "There is no doubt that the scourge of poisoning wildlife in Scotland has decreased in general terms in recent years. However there remain a number of 'hotspots' that blight our civilisation and our reputation worldwide." How can Alan Stewart make such a statement on the back of the 2009 RSPB persecution report and the SASA report which was only published on 3rd August which show that incidents are increasing? A "general decline"? - by all accounts the 2010 figures may even reach a new high. When the 2009 SASA report was launched, Richard Lochhead, the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs said "the figures suggest that birds of prey continue to be the victims of deliberate poisoning and we will continue to work with PAW Scotland in our efforts to put a stop to these illegal actions." There are more than just a few "hotspots' and we are experiencing a tremendous amount of rhetoric and little action. PAW Scotland has published its 'Poisoning Hotspot Maps' - it should be remembered that these refer to single incidents even where there are multiple victims or baits. There has also been talk of a poisoning amnesty - there have been poisoning amnesties in the past and to what effect. Poisoning is committed by those who manage the land for shooting and sport - it is nothing new and poisons have been used for so called 'vermin control' for 200 years. The organisations involved in land management have probably persuaded the Scottish Government that 'peer pressure' will work and eliminate the problem. Meanwhile the problem continues to get worse and as the columns in this website repeat time and again, we are dealing with the tip of the iceberg. It is time for radical change and there is perhaps an opportunity in the current Wildlife and Natural Environment Bill which has been placed before the Scottish Executive, for interested parties to lobby. SRSGs believe that the WANE bill should incorporate either or both, the principle of vicarious responsibility and the licensing of estates. Unfortunately, the use of poisoned baits is not just confined to the UK but is also widespread in Spain, Greece and Portugal. The European Commission, through the LIFE+ program has just co-funded a 5.6 million Euro project (yes - 5.6 million), which will address the illegal use of poisoned baits in several pilot areas where malpractice is currently affecting endangered species such as Bearded Vulture and Spanish Imperial Eagle. The problems in Europe are not from gamekeepers and grouse moor proprietors but from stock managers and hunters. In Andalucia, regional authorities licence all hunters and when poisoned birds are found can remove the licences and ban all shooting in the area. Is the Scottish Government up to such a challenge? Perhaps this is an opportunity to learn something from the rest of Europe, because clearly, and despite all the plaudits around the police thematic inspection report 'Natural Justice', the chances of the perpetrators being caught is remote, and as a consequence the whole justice system is treated with ambivalence by 'serial poisoners' aided and abetted by agents and landowners. Some of these landowners even have the timerity to sign anti-poisoning petitions, anything to attract positive publicity, whilst they quietly turn a blind eye to the actions perpetrated by staff on the ground - peer pressure has certainly not worked at Strathtay - and at other estates in the Highlands where high profile cases are currently ongoing! It is not surprising that the gamekeeper at the centre of all this has made a denial which has been published in the Courier - http://www.thecourier.co.uk/Living/Outdoors/article/4416/gamekeeper-claims-poisoned-red-kite-was-planted.html. He admits that he is a member of the SGA and follows the normal SGA line that the bait was 'planted' - it is often difficult to know what gamekeepers are SGA members and given his track record going back 25 years, this tells us a great deal about the SGA policy in ridding itself of members who besmirch its reputation! Clearly the estate in question is Edradynate, and we understand that they are members of SRPBA and were visited by the Chief Executive of the organisation following a similar incident some months ago - part of a 'peer pressure' initiative which is failing miserably.

On 03 May this year 14 Welsh peregrine falcon eggs were recovered when anti-terrorist police arrested an individual at an English airport on his way to Dubai. The eggs were taken by police officers and kept warm on top of the office computers, turning them regularly until local wildlife rescue centre staff came to collect them.
A businessman was jailed for 30 months today after he admitted trying to smuggle the eggs of a rare peregrine falcon to Dubai. Jeffrey Lendrum, 48, was caught with 14 eggs strapped to his body at Birmingham International Airport on May 3 after he was spotted acting suspiciously by a cleaner who thought he might be a terrorist. Of the 14 eggs collected 12 were viable and commenced hatching in an incubator about the 12/13 May, all 12 hatched though one died a short time after hatching. The remaining 11 were successfully hand-reared to between 14 and 21 days, when they would be able to be fostered into active wild nests. George Smith a Peregrine specialist from Lothian and Borders Raptor Study Group takes up the story. "Following a rush of e-mails and a sprint round known active nests to try and locate sites with chicks about the same age as the hand reared birds, we were able to select several sites within Lothian and Borders RSG area which were suitable. Many members of various other Raptor Study Groups also rallied to the cause and offered to provide possible sites if there was a need to spread the chicks around. Plans were put in place to have the hand reared chicks brought to Scotland and distributed as required, though ultimately we were only allowed to foster 7 of the 11 chicks, the remaining 4 were held back to be hacked into the wild by English falconers. All 7 chicks which we fostered into Scottish nests fared very well, even against some of the comments given by other parties that they would be rejected by foster parents if hand reared for more than 7 days, these birds were hand reared for between 14 and 21 days and were accepted immediately by the foster parents who didn’t skip a beat in their food provision. It appeared to be supply on demand as far as food was concerned. The 7 chicks fostered have now all fledged and are still hanging about with their foster families and venturing out on hunts of their own, so all appears to be working to plan. This whole process was well supported by several parties including the Police, The National wildlife crime unit, DEFRA, RSPB, Lothian and Borders Raptor Study Group and the falconers who hand reared these birds from hatching. It is extremely satisfying to report this as a positive outcome from a very poor starting point. It is not easy to highlight the amount of work required to make all of this happen, but the communication chain was strained at times to keep all parties up to date and several strings of communication went astray, but at all times the key players kept pushing for the desired result which was in the end achieved. Special mention must be given to Steve Downing who travelled South from his home in central England to collect the chicks and then drove immediately to Scotland to work with the L&BRSG on the job of fostering these chicks. " Well done to George and everyone else involved.

Nineteen white-tailed sea eagles, gifted to Scotland as part of a reintroduction programme, have been released into the wild from a secret location in Fife. The birds arrived from Norway in June for the fourth year of the East Scotland Sea Eagle reintroduction project, a partnership scheme between RSPB Scotland, Scottish Natural Heritage and Forestry Commission Scotland. Since their arrival, the birds have been reared in specially built aviaries until they were old enough to fledge. They will now join Scotland’s growing white-tailed eagle population and help restore this species to parts of their former range in the east of Scotland. This project is also contributing to wider conservation efforts across Europe for sea eagles. The ‘flying barn door’, once a regular sight in Scotland’s skies, was driven to extinction by game preservers and collectors in the Victorian era, with the last individual bird killed in 1916. It only returned to the UK following a successful reintroduction to the West of Scotland, on the Island of Rum in 1975. Claire Smith, RSPB Scotland East Coast Sea Eagle Project Officer, said: “A diet of pike, haddock and roe deer has helped make sure these birds are fit and ready for life in the wild. Each bird has been fitted with a radio and wing tags so both project staff and the public can follow their progress. Already we receive many calls from the public thrilled to have seen a sea eagle on the east coast. For 2010 we’ve chosen yellow wing tags with black letters and numbers, and as usual any sightings can be reported to us via email on eastscotlandseaeagles@rspb.org.uk. Since the start of the east coast project in 2007, the survival of the released birds has been good. We now expect that in the next few years some of our older birds will begin to set up territory on the east coast of Scotland and, one day produce chicks of their own.”