Monitoring and conserving Scotland's birds of prey
An osprey hurt in the storms which battered Scotland last week was nursed by oil workers after landing on a North Sea vessel. Now named Carla by the crew, she was safely transferred ashore and is being cared for by the SSPCA until she’s well enough to be released.
A satellite-tracked golden eagle has been found dead in suspicious circumstances. Incredibly, news of this incident has been withheld for almost five months. Grisly details here:
Tom McKellar, a farm manager from Auch Estate, has been fined �1200 for possession of the banned chemical carbofuran. Police found the poison at McKellar’s home at Bridge of Orchy in June 2009, following the discovery of a poisoned golden eagle close to the estate boundary. Unfortunately nobody has been charged with placing poison baits in the open, nor with poisoning the eagle.
and
http://raptorpersecutionscotland.wordpress.com/2012/09/11/glen-orchy-a-hollow-victory/.
A young osprey raised in the Highlands has made what is believed to be the fastest migratory flight from Scotland to West Africa. The osprey, called ‘Alba’, flew 3,000 miles from the RSPB’s Loch Garten Reserve near Aviemore to West Africa in two weeks. This journey usually takes several months to complete. BBC news: