We Will Win.

Red Kite Brian Rafferty 

Seven months ago 16 Red Kites and 6 Buzzards were found poisoned at Conon Bridge in Ross-shire, Scotland. The police have recently put out a press release about their investigations on this incident, the headline of which reads....

'Following investigations Police Scotland can now confirm that the birds were most likely not targeted deliberately but instead were the victims of pest control measures'.

Buzzard Jan Larsson 

OK....So now you have to ask yourself, how can this CONFIRMATION be possible without a confession from whoever laid out the poison baits to know that they had done so to target legitimate pests, or to target raptors. In any case the only legitimate method of poisoning 'pests' is by the controlled use of rodenticides, the substance used in this case was the banned Carbofuran, illegal even to posses let alone use.

Though this is an ongoing investigation and - as is always the case - we only know what we are told about this one, it's difficult to know who is set to gain from this ridiculous, unbelievable, and worrying press release from the police in Scotland. But I've been in touch with a man at RSPB Scotland who has given me his take and involvement with this issue in confidence, and I'm now much more in the know about this first hand, and from other angles which I have read about. 

But the fact remains....Birds of prey continue to be persecuted in alarming numbers, and whilst this goes on and we can read and hear about the kind of response from the very people who are charged with protecting them by bringing the perpetrators of these crimes to account, persecution will never be brought to an end.

Meanwhile the call cried out 'WE WILL WIN' following the Hen Harrier Day this summer, carries much more confidence than I have whilst I continue to read about the massacre of 22 raptors in Ross-shire and the kind of resulting comments from the police during the investigation period.

On a lighter note....

I see a report of a new all time high of 20 Little Grebe on Conder Pool last Sunday. And a walk through Williamson's Park on the same day had me finding a Little Grebe in the old Moor Hospital reservoir at Fenham Carr, where I had seen it/another almost twelve months ago on Monday 18 November 2013.

Thanks to Brian and Jan for the excellent 'clik the pik' images.