The “shooting” of a hen harrier and the disappearance of two more satellite-tagged birds has left RSPB Scotland “devastated”.
It has appealed appealing for information following the grim discovery, suggesting criminality on grouse moors is to blame.
But the Scottish Gamekeepers Association has dismissed the claim and branded it “untruthful”.
The body of the dead female bird was found on a grouse moor near Wanlockhead, Scotland’s highest village in Dumfries and Galloway – this summer.
A post mortem examination confirmed it had died as a result of “penetrating trauma”, with shooting a possibility.
Meanwhile, Romario, a young male, fledged from a nest on National Trust for Scotland’s Mar Lodge Estate, and Thistle, a young female, who was tagged on an estate in Easter Ross, have vanished.
Romario was last recorded on September 11 on a grouse moor between Tomintoul and Grantown-on-Spey, while the last transmission from Thistle’s tag was received on October 12, from another grouse moor, in east Sutherland.
Hen harriers remain one of the UK’s rarest and most persecuted birds of prey.
Studies suggest there are only around 575 pairs of hen harrier remaining in the whole of the UK and Isle of Man.
#BreakingNews One #HenHarrier confirmed shot and two more disappear in #SuspiciousCircumstances Read more: https://t.co/YVlTTRmqF1 pic.twitter.com/hcJdM3zgok
— RSPB Skydancer (@RSPB_Skydancer) December 9, 2019
The vast majority of these pairs – 460 – are in Scotland, making the population here crucial to the future of this species in the UK and calls have been for the government to clamp down on shooting.
Duncan Orr-Ewing, Head of Species and Land Management at RSPB Scotland said: “The project satellite tags don’t stop transmitting if a bird dies of natural causes.
“To have them go offline suddenly and without warning strongly suggests the hen harriers have been the victims of crime, as in the case of the shot bird.
“There needs to be robust regulation of driven grouse shooting if crimes against some of this country’s incredible wildlife are to be brought to an end.”
Sarah Jane Laing, chief executive of Scottish Land & Estates, however, dismissed the RSPB’s appeal as “a blatant attempt to put pressure on government ahead of a forthcoming independent report on grouse moor management”.
The Scottish Gamekeepers Association also claimed the charity was attempting to “influence” the government ahead of the publication of the review’s findings.
A spokesman said: “To suggest the tags of birds which die naturally are always found is simply untruthful.
“Beyond the orchestrated campaign, there is no actual evidence to link these two losses of tag transmission to persecution or persecution on grouse moors.”
A police spokesman said yesterday: “Officers have been supporting partners in trying to ascertain the whereabouts of both birds and establish the full circumstances.
“At this time both disappearances are being treated as unexplained and inquiries continue.”
Anyone with information can call Police Scotland on 101 or the RSPB’s confidential raptor crime hotline on 0300 999 0101.