Press release – Trees for Life, Golden Eagle

Golden eagles breed at Highlands rewilding estate for first time in 40 years A pair of golden eagles has successfully reared a chick in an artificial nest at Trees for Life’s flagship Dundreggan rewilding estate in Glenmoriston between Loch Ness and Skye – marking the first known return of the spectacular birds of prey to breed at the Highlands…

Let’s hope not

I hope this cartoon by Mr Carbo is unnecessarily pessimistic. It remains to be seen whether the SNP government is prepared to act on wildlife crime and unsustainable moorland management. They have acted on Mountain Hares but if they thought that was enough then they have not read the mood of the Scottish electorate nor…

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…

Dear First Minister – what you told Nicola Sturgeon

Many readers of this blog and of my newsletter have written to Nicola Sturgeon and/or Roseanna Cunningham about the finding of a poisoned White-tailed Eagle on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park. Here are just some examples of ones that I have been sent. You notice they are all polite, personal and well-written….

Dear First Minister – from Bob Elliot and OneKind

Dear Cabinet Secretary (and copied to First Minister Sturgeon) I write as the Director of OneKind and also from a personal point of view regarding the recent very bad news of yet another poisoned bird of prey discovered on a grouse moor, and my wider concerns about the killing of our wild animals.  You may remember…

Dear First Minister – from Laurence Rose

Dear First MinisterI have just written a book, publication date 1 October, called Framing Nature – conservation and culture. I’ll send you a copy, hoping that you’ll have a few minutes one evening to read the first few lines of the introduction, which opens with the tragic story of the Scottish wildcat – a sad…

Dear First Minister – from Jon Dunn

Jon Dunn is a birder, author and more, as his letter to Nicola Sturgeon about the poisoning of a young White-tailed Eagle in Strathdon demonstrates. Dear First Minister, I don’t expect you to have heard of me – though I have to say as a Shetland resident, I have admired the SNP’s governance of Scotland…

An interesting paper

This paper is interesting but it draws an odd policy conclusion in the abstract even though not in the discussion. It suggests that high levels of generalist predators may be a problem for ground-nesting birds in particular (not earth-shattering) but then in the abstract says ‘If we value our ground‐nesting bird species, consideration needs to…