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| Young 'Adam' the Golden Eagle |
A very convincing video interview was published on the media by celebrity naturalist Chris Packham and Ian Thomson, the RSPB crime investigation officer. They said that two young satellite tagged Golden Eagles, named Adam and Charlie, had vanished in very suspicious circumstances on Auchnafree shooting estate in Perthshire during April this year. After extensive investigations the police have exonerated the estate and its staff of any allegations of persecution and, despite this, Thomson and Packham continued with the publishing of their insinuated evidence of illegal persecution; surely that is a legal injustice.
Truthfully, I must admit the initial video had me thinking that some sort of persecution had happened especially when the two eagles vanished from satellite tracking on the same day within a few hours and kilometres of each other, but I am back-peddling on that. The estate owners have known about the eagle's residency for a while and welcomed the birds; the estate is leased to a shooting syndicate with a 'no raptor persecution' clause. I do wonder if the police search included looking for and photographing any flying satellite tagged eagles in the area after April 18th. Matching eagle sightings to grid references then tallying them to satellite data would clarify if some eagles are flying with 'dud' transmitters.
The allegations against grouse moors voiced by Packham and Thomson on the video will live on, but at no time do they mention or propose actually searching for any remaining eagles on the estate to track down the truth of whether or not the missing eagles Adam and Charlie are still alive. Trapping eagles can be done but takes patience and involves sitting in a hide for days waiting to fire the trap when the eagle comes to a carrion bait. I doubt if this option will be taken on-board because it might just reveal the truth about satellite transmitters and their disputed reliability. Photographing the eagles in flight to distinguish individuals by plumage patterns and whether they have satellite tags is also possible and something I do here in the Angus glens montane zone.
Ian Thomson of the RSPB describes the Auchnafree area as a black hole for raptor persecution in the video, but he also describes half of Scotland that way at other times. I would like to call his bluff by requesting that he traps the eagles in that Auchnafree area (as seemingly five eagle sightings have been recently reported on the estate) to test the satellite transmitters on the live birds. This is the only way to prove or disprove persecution allegations of how sat tagged eagles vanish without a trace of physical evidence in Scotland. I somehow doubt that Ian Thomson or Chris Packham would actually care that much to sit in a hide for a week, or more, to back a gamble on the truth.
Once again, I challenge Chris Packham or Ian Thomson or RSPB or SNH to trap the remaining eagles frequenting Auchnafree estate and then test their satellite transmitters, if fitted, for function in front of independent and police witnesses.
Packham video
The Telegraph rebuttal
Trapping eagles West Highlands of Scotland
Trapping eagles in USA
Notes;........article in progress............
All text done on the 2 July 2019 and subject to copyright - no reproduction.
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If you are inspired to go out into the hills and glens of Scotland please leave it as you find it, respect the environment, do not litter or discard so called 'biodegradable' fruit and especially if you are a dog walker keep your beast on a lead and do not bag up its waste then chuck it by the wayside. I recently came across one black poo bag neatly hung on a tree branch for someone else to take home and also a bright blue one thrown in the moorland verge....why?
Moorland birds like Golden Plover, Dunlin, Dotterel, Ptarmigan and many raptors nest on the ground, it is advisable to keep dogs at heel or preferably on leads when walking on the high plateaux of the Cairngorms during summer months.
Please be aware that it is illegal to disturb nesting eagles or other raptors and you may do so inadvertently in your journeys into the highlands. Observe protected species at a respectful distance usually from about 1000 metres and for short periods of time only.
No wildlife was unduly or knowingly disturbed by my presence or for the purposes of this web page other than what would be expected on a normal hill walk. Many geographic names and location recognizable photos have been omitted to prevent persecution or ringing-monitoring disturbance to named species.
Canon camera 200D with optical zoom lens EFS 55-250mm used; please note that the zoom range distance if given is calculated by OS map from subject location to camera