Harry Bell and Steve Moyes of Tayside Raptor Study Group report a record year with a total of 7 pairs nesting in the Tay catchment area, fledging a total of 18 chicks. One nest failed, possibly due to disturbance by birdwatchers. All 18 chicks have been ringed and 14 fitted with a single light green tag on the left wing - one of the birds has already been seen at Tyningham, East Lothian - any observations on tagged birds should be sent to Steve - steve.moyes@talk21.com. In addition two of the young Harriers, from different nests, were fitted with satellite radio tags by Roy Dennis of Highland Wildlife Foundation. One of the radios used this year is solar powered with a potential capacity of several years against the normal battery operated unit which normally lasts 6-9 months. The birds are not yet on the move but are expected to do so soon - to track their progess log into http://www.roydennis.org/2006.htm

The Sunday Herald led with a piece by Rob Edwards on the 20th highlighting the two recent Golden Eagle cases. There have already been more poisoning cases in 2006 (28) than in the whole of 2005 (19) and it is anticipated that the figures will be the highest for 6 years. A quote attributed to the Scottish Executive condemned the deliberate poisoning of birds of prey as "dangerous and abhorrent". Our own Logan Steele is also quoted as is Dave Dick. To read the article log on to http://www.sundayherald.com/57449. As a follow on there was widespread TV and radio coverage to-day of an offer of a reward of £1000 from the RSPB for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrators. Duncan Orr-Ewing was interviewed on behalf of the RSPB. It is perhaps unfortunately that nobody was interviewed from the police side to provide an update on the investigation. It is also perhaps unfortunate that the media have a tendency to roll out the usual suspects in such cases. Alex Hogg of the SGA made a highly predictable heartfelt plea that his members love to see Eagles, "have a passion for wildlife and care for it deeply" - it is unfortunate that naive BBC journalists are not briefed to rigorously question such responses and get to the core of the problem.

Hard on the heals of the poisoned bird on Deeside is another report of a poisoned 3 year old female bird found by hillwalkers on the Glenfeshie Estate on the southern edge of the Caurngorms National Park, not far from Kingussie. Again the bird died from poisoning by carbofuran, an illegal agricultural pesticide. The bird had been found in early June but details have been withheld from the media to enable Northern Constabulary to carry out their enquiries. Unfortunately this is a further sad reminder that poisoning remains pretty widespread in the Highlands of Scotland and this significantly impacts on the population and range of iconic species such as Golden Eagles. The two Eagle poisonings this summer were discovered because they were in areas frequented by hillwalkers. SRSGs maintain their long held position that this is the tip of the iceberg and that such practices remain endemic on many sporting estates. See http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1134422006.