TIM Baynes of the Scottish Land and Estates Moorland Group accuses wildlife charities of speculating on the illegal poisoning case in spring 2014 involving the death of 16 red kites on the Black Isle, in his words "straining the relationship between land managers and conservationists" ("Landowners hit out at wildlife group claims on raptor killing", The Herald, October 27 and Letters, October 27).
He also suggests that crimes against birds of prey are declining. Neither is correct.
We have long experience of supporting police wildlife crime investigations, and have a strong interest in ensuring that cases lead to successful prosecutions. We work within protocols agreed with the police. This appalling episode on the Black Isle has rightly caused public outrage, and there is intense frustration that justice is not being seen to be done.
The majority of the crime that is impacting on the status of bird of prey populations in Scotland occurs on land managed for driven grouse shooting. This is a fact supported by a substantial evidence base. Most land managers in Scotland act responsibly and have no involvement with wildlife crime. The Black Isle incident, which occurred on farmland, is by its location, very much the exception to the general rule. Due to the evidence of the systemic illegal killing of raptors and other unsustainable land management practices that occurs on some moors, we now consider that the voluntary approach has failed, and tighter regulation of driven grouse shooting is required.
As director of Scottish Land and Estates Moorland Group, Mr Baynes could perhaps do more with his own audience to help tackle the crimes that are impacting on the populations of golden eagles and hen harriers, and marginalise bad practice. The flouting of national laws designed to protect our most vulnerable wildlife is what undermines the relationship between conservationists and grouse moor owners, and it also tarnishes the reputation of those land owners who observe best practice.
The latest Scottish Government statistics, issued only a fortnight ago, show an increase in the number of reported wildlife crimes against birds of prey in 2013 in comparison to 2012. In addition, the monitoring of bird of prey populations in Scotland still highlights that species such as hen harriers and golden eagles are absent or fail to breed successfully in large swathes of the central and eastern Highlands and Southern Uplands, where driven grouse shooting takes place. Golden eagles and other birds of prey fitted with GPS satellite tags, allowing accurate tracking by researchers, are also either being found illegally killed or poisoned or "disappearing" in these very same areas.
It is surely time for Mr Baynes to help his members take a responsible stance, thus resolving this serious problem soon.
Duncan Orr-Ewing,
Head of Species and Land Management,
RSPB Scotland,
2 Lochside View,
Edinburgh Park, Edinburgh.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article