A new report has exposed the widespread killing of birds of prey in Scotland – with a number of graphic images laying bare the sick crimes of thugs who slaughter the protected animals.
The findings, which were published today by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, have revealed that Scotland’s birds of prey continue to be shot, poisoned and trapped by criminals across the country.
The new Patterns of Persecution report documents that – despite full legal protection – there were 182 confirmed raptor persecution incidents across the country between 2015 and 2024. Victims include nine Golden Eagles, ten Peregrine Falcons, 12 Goshawks, 27 Red Kites and 52 Common Buzzards.
View 6 ImagesTests revealed an eagle had been poisoned in 2020(Image: Daily Record)
The report’s analysis of government laboratory post-mortem examinations, police investigations, prosecutions, intelligence reports, and eye-witness evidence shows there were a total of 62 shooting incidents, 54 poisoning incidents and 41 incidents involving the illegal use of traps.
The majority of these crimes take place in remote and difficult to access areas of the countryside with little chance of detection by the public. Previous cases have shown that the cruel culprits go to significant lengths to dispose of evidence of their offending, including the destruction of satellite tags.
It is therefore believed that the figures published on Tuesday are “just the tip of the iceberg”. Ian Thomson, RSPB Investigations Manager, said: “This report makes horrendous reading for anyone who cares about the protection of some of our rarest and most spectacular species.
View 6 ImagesRussell Mason clubbed a bird to death(Image: COPFS)
“Documented incidents were widely scattered across the country, from the Scottish Borders to the Western Isles, but it is telling that a significant majority, almost two thirds of recorded incidents (64.3%), occurred on land managed for gamebird shooting.”
The Record has reported on a number of harrowing incidents in recent years. Last month we told how Scots gamekeeper Russell Mason was caught on hidden camera clubbing a bird of prey to death inside a cage.
View 6 ImagesRussell Mason beat a protected goshawk to death(Image: Gordon Currie)
The 49-year-old was filmed striking the goshawk with a cosh six times after it had been caught inside a crow cage trap on Cochrage Moor, Perthshire, on February 12, 2024. Mason, who worked on the estate, then placed the dead animal in a carrier bag before driving off from the Milton of Drummie Estate in a Polaris Ranger car.
Meanwhile, in May 2024, a buzzard suffered “significant unnecessary suffering” after it was found dead of a shotgun wound near an estate in Perthshire. The shotgun blast “caused fracture of the lower leg bone” meaning the protected bird of prey “died slowly as a result of the leg wound and secondary infection”, post-mortem analysis found.
View 6 ImagesThe buzzard endured ‘significant’ prolonged suffering from shotgun wound to leg
In April 2022, animal welfare chiefs said they suspected that two birds of prey had been shot dead in Renfrewshire in the space of a week. One bird had to be put to sleep, while another was found dying with suspicious injuries, which the SSPCA believed may have be linked.
And, in April 2020, police launched a probe after a rare white-tailed sea eagle was found dead. The bird of prey was recovered from Donside, Aberdeenshire, and a post mortem examination found it died from pesticide poisoning.
View 6 ImagesThe SSPCA discovered that a firearm had been used to injure the bird in Renfrewshire(Image: SSPCA)
Duncan Orr-Ewing, RSPB Scotland’s Head of Species and Land Management, said: “The Scottish Parliament has recognised the adverse impact that criminal incidents on some grouse shooting estates have had on Scotland’s birds of prey and introduced legislation, the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024, licensing grouse shoots.
“We hope that the very welcome passing of this legislation, during the last year covered by our report, has created a significant deterrent to these crimes, and that the skies above our grouse moors will be safer for eagles, Hen harriers, Red Kites and Peregrines. This legislation therefore needs to be backed up with monitoring and effective enforcement.
“Time will tell, but recent incidents of raptors being shot, suspicious disappearances of satellite-tagged eagles and illegal trap use suggest that there is still a long way to go.”
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