The Partnership for Action against Wildlife Crime (PAW) is a multi-agency organisation that promotes enforcement of wildlife legislation in the UK. PAW Scotland operates with some degree of independence but within the overall UK structure. PAW Scotland has established a fund to promote new and innovative projects tackling wildlife crime in Scotland in one of several areas which include Prevention, Intelligence and Enforcement. The fund has £220,000 to award for project up to 2011 and grants will be awarded to support individuals and organisations in the public/private and voluntary sectors. In this regard SRSGs are a signatory to PAW and it would be extremely useful if anyone came up with a suitable project involving raptors which should be one of the key strategic areas of PAW work. Hen Harrier image by David Whitaker. For further details and application forms please see http://www.snh.org.uk/about/ab-grants01.asp

Scottish Raptor Study Groups have been supporters and partners in the Irish Golden Eagle reintroduction project. We are saddened to report that a satellite tagged Golden Eagle was found dead on a hillside in County Donegal on Thursday, the 19th February 2009. The bird (Dark Blue/Light Blue L) was found within Glenveagh National Park. This was a bird which had been collected from the island of Mull last year. Golden Eagle image by Andrew Stevenson from our Gallery. The State Laboratory, at Backweston, Celbridge confirmed on Sunday 1st March that the bird died from poisoning. For operational reasons, the type of poison used is not being disclosed at present. For a full report on this matter it is suggested you visit http://goldeneagle.ie/news_viewnews.php?x=1&z=41&news_id=8&article=196 where Lorcan O'Toole gives a full account. This is a tragic incident and will hopefully provide a final wake-up call to the Irish Government. In this regard Environment and Heritage Minister John Gormley of the Irish government said he was disgusted by the incident and his Government was considering banning poisoned baits. The Irish Government needs to take long delayed action on this matter as it is putting an extremely important and successful project at risk.

We returned to a re-furbished Battleby for our annual conference which was attended by nearly 120 members and guests. This year's conference broke a number of previous barriers, more of which later. However it was also the first year of the new Donald and Jeff Watson Award, in memory of a father and son, both raptor group members, who had made a unique contribution to raptor work in Scotland. Jeff's widow Vanessa was a welcome guest throughout the day and made the inaugural award to Adam Watson of the North-East Scotland Group. Adam was unable to be present and Alistair Duncan accepted the award on his behalf (see picture). For the first time we also had a politician present and welcomed the new Minister for Environment Roseanna Cunningham, who pledged to continue the work of her predecessor Mike Russell. Andrew Thin, Chairman of SNH was also present and addressed the audience. All this contributed to a packed programme but allowed everyone the opportunity to meet colleagues old and new, which is one of the reasons this is a restricted conference, as it is the only opportunity we get to meet annually. An established highlight of this conference is the Derek Ratcliffe Memorial lecture and this year's recipient was Roy Dennis on his 'Life with Ospreys'. Roy can be relied upon for enthusiastic and thought-provoking presentations and this was well up to the mark. It was also an opportunity for Roy to announce that in 2008 for the first time we had over 200+ pairs of Ospreys in Scotland and over 300 young fledged - a testimony to the work Roy has led, ably supported by many other Osprey enthusiasts, and a fitting climax to a great day.