12 kites and 4 buzzards have been found poisoned in Ross-shire.
The charity has urged anyone with information to contact Police Scotland and has offered a £5,000 reward for information that leads to a successful conviction. Brian Etheridge, who has spent 19 years as Red Kite Officer in the Black Isle, meant to celebrate this anniversary this week, but instead he is still reeling from the deaths of birds he has worked with for more than a decade.
He said: “This has been the worst two weeks of my life. I have worked with all of the birds – each one was ringed and tagged by me. I was there at the very beginning when they were only a few weeks old, and I was there at the end when I went to collect their bodies. It’s a huge mix of emotions – I’ve gone from being very angry to extremely sad. Some of these birds I’ve known very well and for a very long time.”
One of the dead birds was a 16-year-old female that Brian first tagged in 1998. She had been breeding in the Black Isle for 14 years and had raised between 25 to 30 young, one of which, an eight-year-old female, was also among the dead.
Brian said: “I’ve gone to her nest every year since she first bred back in 2000 and I’ve climbed up to her nest, so she probably knew me quite well. She was like an old friend and a very familiar sight so I will miss her this year. She had mated with one male for 13 years and he was so faithful. He has been sitting on their nest, waiting for her to come back.
You may have been following this story in the press but if you haven't then Mark Avery's blog has the full story : Mark Avery Standing up for Nature blog. Google Raptor persecution website to read about other battles to bring the perpetrators to justice and you will see it is extremely time consuming and expensive so maybe a big reward will loosen a few tongues.
The Maltese hunters of course can point to this very case in their defence so we should be shouting in one way or another to show our disapproval of this crime on our own soil.
