The Minister of the Environment Michael Russell to-day launched what has been described as one of the most ambitious and innovative land management and conservation projects ever to be carried out in Britain. The project will be a partnership between Buccleuch Estates, SNH, the Game Conservancy Trust, RSPB and Natural England. The project will test measures to reduce the predation of red grouse by birds of prey, including the diversionary feeding of Hen Harriers. There will also be substantial investment in habitat improvement. Stuart Housden of RSPB Scotland hoped that any outcomes might reduce the perceived conflict between birds of prey and sporting managers, which has dogged the debate in recent years. The project will employ 8 people and has an investment of £3million over a ten-year period. For further details see http://www.rspb.org.uk/news/details.asp?id+tcm:9-170523

Many raptor workers in Scotland have been aware that Jeff has been in declining health and it is with considerable sadness that we bring the news that he passed away earlier to-day. Jeff was raised in Galloway where his interest in birds was inspired by his father, bird artist and ornithologist Donald Watson. Jeff had a lifelong interest in birds of prey and following graduation from Aberdeen University he undertook his doctorate research on the Seychelles Kestrel. He worked for WWF and SWT before joining NCC on a research project on Golden Eagles and land use in the Scottish Highlands. Jeff wrote the Poyser monograph on The Golden Eagle which was published in 1997, and although it is for this iconic species he is best known, he also carried out research on Hen Harrier and Merlin. Jeff enjoyed a succesful career with SNH becoming Regional Director for the north of Scotland. He remained a member of the Highland Raptor Study Group and an active supporter of raptor work throughout Scotland where he will be greatly missed amongst many friends and colleagues. We extend our deepest sympathies to his wife Vanessa and son Ronan.

Roy Dennis of the Highland Wildlife Foundation has announced a partnership tracking project with Talisman Energy UK. New generation satellite transmitters made by Microwave Telemetry have been fitted to a female and two chicks from Speyside. The new transmitters are powered through solar panels and are built to last 3 years, taking an accurate GPS fix, altitude, direction and speed of flight every hour. This is already providing an amazingly detailed data set but also brought some bad news as it appears that the oldest chick (see photo) may well have perished at sea to the south west of Cornwall. For full details on the project visit http://www.roydennis.org/osprey_migration2007.htm.

There was a foretaste of this in our report of 17th June, 2007. For the pessimistic amongst us, RSPB's report into the persecution of birds of prey in 2006, revealed what we expected, the highest level of poisoning of birds of prey in over two decades - in fact the worst year in 25 years, evidence independently corroborated by the Scottish Agricultural Science Agency. In addition to the poisoning there were a further 85 reports of bird of prey persecution other than poisoning, including acts such as shooting, nest destruction, and the illegal use of cage and spring traps. What is also clear , and should be no surprise, is the unequivocal link between the majority of these incidents and sporting estates. In order to test the recent commitment by the Scottish Government, RSPB is suggesting a series of actions which are endorsed by Scottish Raptor Study Groups:-1. At least a single dedicated Wildlife Crime Officer in each Scottish Police Force 2. Better resources for environmental Procurators Fiscal.3. Full use of penalties available to the courts.3. A review of these penalties including ways to make landowners more responsible.4. A review of chemicals on the prescribed list. 5. Making incidents of wildlife crime recordable by the police. There is a pdf of the RSPB report on the 'Persecution' pages of this website.