Bird of prey crime map
From the Scottish Government website, yesterday:
‘2017 saw only one recorded incident of illegal bird of prey poisoning in Scotland, according to new maps published by the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime (PAW) Scotland. This is the lowest total in a single year since PAW Scotland began compiling data for 2004 onwards. There was a further 36% fall in all recorded bird of prey crimes during 2017. The new figures show 9 confirmed crimes compared to 14 the previous year.’
For more detail see:
Recorded Bird of Prey Crimes 2013-2017, by type of crime
| Year | Type of Crime | |||||||
| Shooting | Poisoning | Trapping | Disturbance | Nest destruction | Other | Not yet disclosed | All | |
| 2013 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 23 |
| 2014 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 18 |
| 2015 | 4 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 19 |
| 2016 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| 2017 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 |
https://news.gov.scot/news/recorded-cases-of-bird-of-prey-poisonings-at-record-low
Talking-up Scotland 
Sorry John. For once you have got it wrong.
https://raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/2018/10/16/2017-raptor-persecution-stats-show-criminals-getting-better-at-hiding-evidence/
LikeLike
A post along the lines of positive Scottish news would be how the Scottish Government are doing something to tackle this issue. It isn’t working but they recognise this fact and are looking at new measures. Hopefully licensing of driven grouse moors is imminent but it was very disappointing that they did not allow the SSPCA more powers. The way the Scottish Parliament responded to public petitions on this issue is also astonishing (good Talking Up news). There are a lot of good news stories about Scotland on RPUK but not these figures hiding the true nature of wildlife crime in Scotland.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for this link. I’m not competent on this so will leave it to readers.
LikeLike
It looks quite complicated when you first start looking at it, like most things i suppose.
The difference between the way the Scottish parliament views raptor crime compared to westminster is massive.
In the UK there was a so called debate which was just tory MPs lying their heads off reading scripted lies from the grouse shooting industry.
In Scotland there was a real sensible debate. Certainly there were some SMPs that didn’t have a full grasp of the topic but there was no deliberate lying and the debate has led to further investigations. The evidence provided by scientists was listened to, at westminster they just ignored it.
Scotland has introduced Vicarious Liability. It hasn’t had much effect so they are considering other methods and i think Licensing is imminent, England has done absolutely nothing except allow grouse-shooting landowners to move Hen Harrier chicks off their land (they call it brood management – an environmental con-trick). That hasn’t happened yet because there are non to move! Natural England also wants to bring Hen Harriers from the continent and introduce them to the lowlands so the killing on the uplands can continue. The fact that Hen Harriers would colonise the lowlands if the persecution stopped is not thought to be relevant.
Your blog is on of the highlights of the day. Thanks you for all your hard work.
LikeLike
Not fast enough, though. 😦
LikeLiked by 1 person
Here is Talking Up news. Scottish government acting on raptor crime and whilst Westminster does sweet FA
https://beta.gov.scot/publications/grouse-moor-management-group-report-on-third-meeting/
LikeLike