Dear First Minister – what you told Nicola Sturgeon (2)

Yes, back to that poisoned White-tailed Eagle found on a grouse moor in a National Park. Why? Because it’s just as shocking and awful this week as it was last week.

Nicola Sturgeon and Roseanna Cunningham may feel that they had a bit of a torrid time on this subject last week but, after the weekend, they can move on to other matters. I’m asking you not to let it lie.

I know that many of you have emailed the First Minister and the Cabinet Secrtary and that many of you did so over the weekend. Thank you! Thank you for keeping this issue alight.

And so I am asking those of you who haven’t emailed either of these good women to do so now please. Yes, it will soon by time to move on but let’s give it a collective push right now.

If you are maddened or saddened by the level of wildlife crime in Scotland’s Cairngorms National Park then please write to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon ([email protected]) and copy in Cabinet Secretary Roseanna Cunningham ([email protected]). And please do it this evening.

Here are some more examples of what others have written.

Dear First Minister
Please do something to stop the criminals illegally killing our birds of prey in the Cairngorms National Park and elsewhere. PLEASE DO SOMETHING – NOW. These criminals are damaging the name of your country. 
Yours sincerely

Dear Nicola, Roseanna or your representatives, The sight of yet another poisoned bird of prey on a grouse moor, this time a sea eagle in the Cairngorms, is a sickening one. Please rush through and strengthen the licensing for these areas, or ban driven grouse shooting altogether. The gamekeepers and their rich landowners are a closed society. Time and time again the poisonings continue despite their hollow public utterances of condemnation stretching across the decades. Your sincerely,

Dear First Minister and Cabinet Secretary The recent news of the poisoning of a majestic White-tailed Eagle in the Cairngorms National Park is the latest shocking tale of a decades-long failure to deal with systemic criminal activity by grouse moorland owners and managers. But it’s NOTHING NEW. The killing of innumerable birds of prey (raptors) in parts of the Cairngorms National Park is NOTHING NEW  (though our recent ability to capture the extensive evidence of the sudden disappearance over grouse moors through satellite-tagging is remarkable.) The killing, shooting, trapping and poisoning of birds of prey across Scotland’s grouse-shooting moorlands is NOTHING NEW The failure of Scottish courts to prosecute organised criminal activity by gamekeepers against wildlife is NOTHING NEW The failure of Scottish courts to accept clear video evidence of criminal activity by gamekeepers is quite new – but, then, so are covert camera traps. The kicking of the issue of wildlife crimes and mismanagement of vast acreages of Scotland’s upland into the “long grass” is NOTHING NEW. The possession and use of banned poisons by gamekeepers in order to do their masters’ bidding to over-produce red grouse to shoot is NOTHING NEW. . . . What would be new is if the SNP acted bravely and took decisive action today to ban driven grouse shooting (which is solely the driver for this continued criminal activity). At second best, the SNP should act NOW to introduce a licencing scheme for all moorland grouse-shoots. It will be NOTHING NEW if all you do is prevaricate and accept yet another 5 years of ‘discussions’ about voluntary agreements and bans. Intentional killing of birds of prey and anything else that impacts on grouse-shooting interests has gone on too long. This has persisted for far too many decades. It is time to act, and not just to sent out an ineffective Tweet to suggest you are taking a firm stand against systemic illegal activity. As yet, you have not acted to control the mismanagement of the Scottish uplands and criminal activity by landed interests. Scotland’s reputation as a place that harbours majestic wildlife in its uplands, and its importance in capturing carbon is demonstrably false when sea eagle, golden eagle, hen harrier, goshawk, peregrine falcons and many other keystone species are poisoned and shot, and when vast swathes of our uplands are burned every year, purely to support a hobby that few people enjoy and which puts money in the hands of even fewer. Scotland’s uplands should be richer than this. Rich in wildlife; rich in tourists coming to appreciate that wildlife; rich in biodiversity that supports healthy ecosystems instead of barren heather moorland, producing nothing but an over-abundance of grouse… … plus an abundance of dead birds of prey. PLEASE DO SOMETHING NEW – AND DECISIVE. Ban driven grouse shooting, or at least act to licence this damaging and uncontrolled activity NOW! Yours sincerely

Dear Ms Sturgeon,
I’m sad to be writing to you about the killing of a white-tailed eagle on a Scottish grouse moor. White-tailed eagles, as you know, are a reintroduced species. They could be a real conservation success story for Scotland if they are allowed to survive and thrive. Scottish wildlife is not only a huge benefit to Scotland but to the whole of the UK, if not the world. Our family along with many other tourists visit Scotland for its nature and the chance to see creatures thriving in the wild. We also need more nature in these troubled times not less. The bird was poisoned by an illegal substance. According to the RSPB attacks and killings of raptors have been relentless during lockdown. This has to stop. I urge you and the assembly to introduce the licensing and random checking of grouse shooting operations immediately. White-tailed eagles (and other wild creatures) are natural assets and it should not be for commercial operators to decide to eliminate them. Grouse shooting encourages the wealthy to delude themselves that they are out in nature hunting. In reality, it is an industry that sells the killing of birds who have no chance. Less of a hunt, more of a slaughter.
I know Covid-19 and trying to find out what trade agreements Westminster is cooking up may pressing issues, but surely this measure could be brought in relatively quickly to protect the remaining eagles and other raptors.
With thanks and best wishes, 

Dear First Minister, I am writing to you to express dismay at the recent discovery that yet another one of our iconic wild species has been killed by digesting poison in the Cairngorm area well known for its grouse shooting industry. The finger has long been pointed at this industry for killing native wildlife so that their business can be more successful.  This is not an acceptable state of affairs and I urge you to sit down with the landowners and grouse shooting operatives and demand that they change their ways or face the break-up of their industry. The vast areas of land that these grouse moors cover means that these practices have a devastating effect on wildlife over large swathes of Scotland.  Earlier this week I drove through the Glenlivet Estate from my home in Ross-shire to spend a week in rural Aberdeenshire and was shocked at the desert-like appearance of the countryside for miles around.  There are so few people living and working there and the area is strewn with ruins of houses from times past, it is a sad state of affairs.  The grouse moor covers a huge area that could surely be populated, native woodland encouraged and the land worked by many people.   I urge you to do all you can to stop the unnecessary killing of Scotland’s native wildlife, and give out a clear message that this will no longer be tolerated in this country. Kindest regards

Dear Nicola Sturgeon, and Roseanna Cunningham
You will be aware of the killing of birds of prey, on grouse shooting estates.
The number of birds of prey being killed is far too large.  It is a tragedy that these rare, remarkable birds are being poisoned, shot and removed in other ways – illegally.
Scotland is seen as a bit of a leader on some environmental matters, with some good policies.
It is time to ensure that the killing of birds of prey, for no better reason than that they are  a nuisance to the grouse-shooting industry, is banned and enforcement against anyone killing these raptors is taken effectively.
We are living through the Sixth Mass Extinction of species, being caused by humanity.  These amazing birds of prey only survive in tiny numbers, compared to their numbers before people started killing them.
They are a precious part of Scotland’s biodiversity, and an irrepleaceable part of the world’s remaining wildlife.
Please ensure that the killing of raptors, for the benefit of grouse estate owners, is ended.  With proper legislation and its diligent enforcement, the killing could be stopped.
It is the duty of the Scottish government to see the killing does not continue, on its watch.
Kind regards

Dear Ministers, I have been forced to be an observer of birds of prey persecution in Scotland and England for more years than I care to think of and very definitely support the aim of banning as a minimum driven grouse shooting because of the damage to landscapes and habitats as well as the illegal killing of native birds of prey and other native animals deemed entitled to live in the same places. All  of the activities associated with moorland management are directed towards maintaining an unsustainable population of grouse and other game birds so that people can kill them for fun. Most of those who visit to shoot go out for a few days each year, have no connection with nature, the countryside they visit, or the people who do or could live there.  Those visitors are not seen again while everyone else has to bear the cost, environmentally of their ignorance and self-interest and that of the profiting landowners. This should no longer be permitted and I sincerely hope that the Scottish Government will at long last call a halt to this appalling business that is fuelling so much damage. There are other economic pursuits that can be pursued in these areas and it is hoped that the Scottish Government will set out a different economic future. Yours sincerely,

Dear First Minister,

I write to express my extreme sadness, anger and frustration at news of a satellite tagged white-tailed sea eagle found poisoned in April on a grouse moor in the Strathdon area within the Cairngorms National Park, which has long been known as a raptor persecution hotspot.

RSPB’s record of raptor persecution incidents 2005-2018 shows clear geographic clusters in the Strathdon area, In the Angus Glens to the SE, and in the Monadhliaths to the NW of the National Park.

Those incidents in Strathdon include a poisoned golden eagle (2011), two satellite-tagged golden eagles ‘disappearing’ (2013), a satellite-tagged white-tailed-eagle ‘disappearing’ (2014), another satellite-tagged golden eagle ‘disappearing’ (2017), and three satellite-tagged hen harrier ‘disappearing’ in consecutive years (2018, 2019 & 2020). Other species found poisoned in the same area include raven (2006) and buzzard (2011); and those shot include buzzard (2009), short-eared owl (2011) and goshawk (2014 & 2016). Nobody has been prosecuted in any of these cases.

Strathdon was also identified as a golden eagle persecution hotspot in the 2017 Government-commissioned report on the fates of satellite-tagged golden eagles in Scotland.

Raptor persecution has been illegal since 1954, but it continues unabated within Scotland’s premier National Park and the causality is well-documented in peer-reviewed scientific literature and Government-commissioned reports. What further evidence does the Scottish Government require before it acts to change the law so that grouse moor management as currently practiced is subject to licence, or preferably banned, and the perpetrators of raptor persecution face the full force of the law?

Yours sincerely

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