A pioneering project which uses the latest satellite technology to monitor the movement of wild birds has been launched after receiving support from PAW Scotland. The initiative called Eyes to the Skies uses a small receiver fitted to a red kite and from there transmits signals via satellite to a receiving station. Satellite tracking has been successfully used in the research of animal movements. This is thought to be one of the first times it has been used as a wildlife crime deterrent. The technology is so accurate that if a bird stays in the same place for longer than a set time, an alarm is triggered and a team can be dispatched to locate the bird - and if necessary recover it to examine the cause of injury or death. The electronic tags will be fitted to red kites in the Black Isle area north of Inverness. Red kites were among the most heavily persecuted of all our wild birds and during the 1980s were reintroduced by SNH, the RSPB and English Nature. The spread of the red kite in north Scotland is much slower than in other areas in which it has been reintroduced. This is believed to be, at least in part, due to poisoning. This project aims to help establish the facts. Funding for this latest initiative has been provided by the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime (PAW) following an announcement of £200,000 funding from the Scottish Government last year. The satellite tagging is part of a larger RSPB project to provide a red kite viewing facility and interpretation/ education centre near Dingwall, Ross-shire.
A community officer will attach the electronic tags to the birds and monitor their progress over the two years of the project - providing feedback to adoptees of individual birds, track movements and locate any dead birds.
Ron Macdonald, head of policy and advice at Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), confirmed: The red kite is one of the five species which comprise national wildlife crime priorities. Therefore SNH is delighted to have been able to help and it is extremely encouraging to see this work on protecting this beautiful bird get underway. "The project encompasses the latest technology used in a different way - to monitor and track the birds movements and to investigate immediately anything suspicious. "This technology now gives us the chance to rapidly locate dead or injured birds and this continuous collection of data on the birds movements will be a barrier to the improper use of poison baits and direct persecution of red kites. Louise Batchelor, chair of the PAW Scotland Media group said: "This is just the type of project that the fund can really help. New ways of tackling crime are always needed and wildlife crime is no different. Innovation is the key and satellite tagging of birds of prey certainly falls into that category."
A previous story told of the succesful release at Argaty of a Red Kite found poisoned in Angus and the image by Dean Bricknall shows the bird being fitted with a satellite tag prior to release.

The inaugural presentation of this new award was made at the Scottish Raptor Group Conference on 28th February 2009. The reward is for an individual who has made a unique contribution to raptor work in Scotland. In his final days Jeff Watson had suggested that Adam Watson would be a fitting recipient. Adam was unable to be present for the ceremony but has since written at length in response to the award. Image from Leopard Magazine. Dr Adam Watson has been involved in studies of raptors and Golden Eagles since the 1940’s. He is a highly respected figure in academic and conservation circles throughout the world, as well as an individual who has made a unique contribution to natural history in Scotland, and has published widely. He rarely attends conferences or in any way seeks publicity. With the current debate on persecution, Adam Watson has kindly given us permission to use the written response to his award in any way we consider appropriate and we quote the final two paragraphs:-

“When I look back to the 1940s, however, it is sad and deplorable that the eagles themselves are now in poorer shape than in the 1940s. One of the main reasons is illegal persecution of raptors on grouse-moor estates. This has reduced the number of pairs and their breeding success, and prevented colonising immature birds from settling on vacant ground unoccupied by adult pairs. In the absence of persecution, it is likely that the total population would be larger, because birds would spread into less preferred, though still suitable habitat. Illegal persecution of golden eagles and other protected raptors has occurred on some of the best-known estates in the land, owned by some of the best-known persons. The facts so far divulged are shocking to the public, but only the tip of the iceberg. In 2009 after more than 60 years of known illegal persecution in the north-east and elsewhere, it surely is time for the European Union, the Westminster and Scottish parliaments, the police, the judiciary and the public to end this criminal activity, for good. Such crimes are now an international embarrassment for Scotland, in total contrast to the international respect for Scottish raptor studies and raptor workers.

So, let our celebration of the excellence of Scottish Raptor Study Groups and their work also give a warning to the tiny proportion of the Scottish people involved directly or indirectly in illegal persecution. Let such acts against national and international interests become subject to full cross-compliance, whereby all taxpayers’ grants and subsidies and inheritance tax remissions, for all purposes (not just the penalty of 5% removal of agricultural subsidies as applied so far), are blocked completely. At a stroke there would come respect for the law of the land, responsible stewardship of land on behalf of the public, and an end to abuse of privilege.

Donald and Jeff Watson were dismayed at the disappointing lack of progress on the elimination of raptor persecution in Scotland during their two lifetimes of dedication, experience and effort. Let us think of them, remember their artistic and scientific achievements, and take renewed endeavour.”

We regularly add new links to the website and have recently added two. A new raptor website has emerged in the Lancashire area called www.raptorpolitics.org. This is a hard-hitting website which poses the question as to whether England's birds of prey are really protected by law. Recent news items include the problems faced by Peregrines in the Pennines - it also carries news from Scotland. The other site is somewhat of a contrast but SGA is re-vamping its web pages and we thought it appropriate to include it in our links. You can read the thoughts of Chairman Alex Hogg on the Irish Golden Eagle reintroduction and Gamekeepers as Special Constables.

Strathclyde Police have confirmed that an adult Golden Eagle found dead in Argyll had been poisoned. The bird was found by walkers on the slopes of Beinn Udlaidh, Glen Orchy, on June 7th and an extensive search of the area was carried out by police, RSPB, and other officials a few days ago in a co-ordinated operation. Image of the bird by RSPB. Whilst this is not a site regularly monitored by volunteer raptor workers it is thought that the bird which was 5/6 years old will be from a resident pair breeding in the area. The poisoning may well impact on any nestlings in a nearby eyrie. Speaking on behalf of PAW Scotland (the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime Scotland) the Minister for Environment, Roseanna Cunningham said:
“I was disgusted to hear of another poisoning of a golden eagle. This is an unacceptable crime against a magnificent creature. There is nothing which can excuse this behaviour and the individual or individuals involved are beneath contempt.
“Our wildlife is world-renowned and a crime against it is a crime against Scotland. The use, in this case, of highly toxic, carbamate poison is particularly worrying as it poses a serious danger to other wild animals, domestic pets and even people. “We will continue to strive to eradicate this type of crime, working through PAW Scotland, and I would urge anyone with information about this, or any other wildlife crime, to contact the Police.”
The Minister spoke at our recent SRSGs Conference and we are well aware of her personal commitment to deal with the problem. This comes on the back of two Red Kite poisonings only just reported on these news pages. Whilst the problems of persecution on grouse moors is well recognised there is a tendency to assume that problems do not exist in the West Highlands. Walkers tend to stick to standard paths and this incident took place only miles from the West Highland Way, the most popular long-distance walk in Scotland. The chances of finding poisoned baits or birds in wild country is therefore extremely unlikely but that is not to say that a problem does not exist. Every year there are incidents in the West Highlands and these have involved some of our most iconic species. We have repeatedly used the phrase that we are looking at the tip of the iceberg, and on the basis of incidents discovered in 2009, there is no evidence to change that. Unfortunately, and despite a police thematic inspection on Wildlife Crime, and a new Scottish strategy through PAW Scotland, there is little evidence that the criminal perpetrators of these acts, will change their ways. As legislation and law enforcement effort changes, they will inevitably respond to these changes to avoid getting caught - a position invariably supported by legal advisers many of whom are retained by the same countryside agencies who are working in so-called partnership to try and eradicate the problem. The sooner some agencies come to terms with this, and deal with wildlife criminals in the same way as they deal with other criminals, then we might make some steps to eradicate the problem. Deference by rural police officers to landowners no longer has a place in modern society. It is largely gamekeepers who commit wildlife crime so it is little wonder that SRSG members question the judgement of police forces who announce a positive recruitment campaign for gamekeepers at a wildlife crime conference. There are also moves to impose access constraints on raptor workers beyond legal requirements. The imposition of such constraints would be a victory for wildlife criminals, in other words the many landowners and gamekeepers who do not want us to wander off the beaten path, as there is a strong likelihood we will discover breaches of the law which have been going on behind estate walls for decades and which they would rather keep to themselves. Such information, provided by raptor workers over many years has been instrumental in identifying 'black holes' or 'sumps' where birds of prey have been systematically eradicated. These invariably centre on sporting estates where wildlife criminals are provided sanctuary or direction and where needless to say casual walkers, let alone raptor workers were never welcome, and never will be. Police officers do not routinely patrol the rural countryside away from public roads. As in this instance, it is walkers and others such as raptor workers who invariably stumble across poisoned birds or baits. If this is truly a crime against Scotland, we should be encouraged to go about our monitoring work unhindered, liaising with landowners, estates and gamekeepers who we know from experience and judgement are on side, and not constrained by political or other pressures which make it impossible to carry out monitoring effectively. That will be the singlemost contribution we can make in the current partnership effort to address this problem, which in the long term might mean that fewer Golden Eagles will be poisoned.

Though Red Kites have recently made our news pages with positive stories of breeding success in Grampian, unfortunately this magnificent bird of prey remains the primary victim of poisoning on Scotland's sporting estates. A Red Kite found dead in the Scottish Borders on 2nd June has now been found to have been poisoned. According to an article in the Guardian, police investigations centred on the Raeshaw Estate, a well known Moorfoots grouse moor. Several dead Buzzards were found in the area earlier in the year. Meanwhile another Red Kite found poisoned a few weeks ago at Tannadice, Angus was released back into the wild after being rehabilitated at the SSPCA Middlebank Wildlife Rescue Centre. Alan Stewart, the Tayside Police Wildlife Crime Co-ordinator is quoted in the Press & Journal - “This red kite is, regrettably, another victim to be added to the Tayside list. Already this year, on just two estates – one in Angus and one in Perthshire – a tawny owl and seven buzzards have been found poisoned. This activity is criminal and has no place in the 21st century.” Unfortunately, Angus and Perthshire, along with the Borders, have unenviable reputations for crimes against wildlife, not helped by the inability of the justice system to bring cases to court. It is important for conservation bodies and raptor enthusiasts to work closely with rural communities towards eradicating this problem. It is equally important for those who have livelihoods in rural communities to free themselves from the shackles of feudal landowner control and speak out, instead of seemingly quietly condoning Victorian habits of 'vermin control'. Organisations who represent rural interests also need to acknowledge how widespread this criminal activity remains, instead of trumpeting so-called 'maps of shame' , endorsed by Government, which blatantly dilute the extent of the problem. For more on these stories see http://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/Article.aspx/1267151?UserKey= and http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/jun/15/police-raid-red-kite