Further to the blog post on 19 July 2011, the name of the Highland sporting estate that was raided last week has been reported as Farr and Kyllachy Estate, near Inverness. The police raid was in connection with alleged wildlife crime incidents that include a poisoned sea eagle and a poisoned golden eagle, believed to have been discovered in June 2010, and four dead red kites.
Allegations of wildlife crime in this area date back several decades, including the previously reported discovery of poison bait, hen harrier nest destruction, poisoned eagles, poisoned red kites and attempted trapping of goshawks and peregrines. All of these allegations can be found by anybody interested in doing an internet search, although no allegation has ever been proven in the Scottish courts.
No charges have been reported in relation to last week’s police raid. On this basis, blog commentators are reminded that anyone connected with Farr and Kyllachy Estate must be presumed innocent.
According to a 2005 report in The Times, Farr Estate is expected to receive profit of up to £11 million from revenue generated by recently erected wind turbines (see here).
Last year, The Press & Journal ran an article (here) about tick management on the estate, including an interview with the Laird, Philip Mackenzie. The article claimed that tick control had led to a 20-fold increase in the number of brace shot (red grouse) in the previous six years. It also stated the Estate was expecting 2010 to produce the best grouse bags since 1938, leading to 15 days of let driven grouse shooting, at a tidy charge of £10,000 + per day.
Last year Farr Estate donated driven and walked-up grouse shooting days to the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust’s (GWCT) 2010 Grand Scottish Draw (see here).
Raptor Persecution UK 
Yes of course the people at Farr & kyllachy estate are totally innocent of poisoning these Raptors. The Raptors must have picked up the poison miles away from the estate and then flew to the estate and decided to die there. Dammed bad luck for the estate. Amazing how 6 Raptors would decide to do that. xxx xxxxx [Removed as potentially defamatory]
There seems to be an increase in paranoia regarding defamation on this blog…..perhaps someone out there doesnt like hearing the truth??…most of the comments Ive seen have been remarkably measured, considering the litany of crime and wildlife killing which it covers…..compared to , say, the AOL news item comments which exhibit appalling personal attacks on a daily basis…and which go unchallenged…estate based crime as a special case, once again.
Re Kyllachy…I know I didnt imagine a lengthy court case in Inverness after helping the police investigate a set crow cage containing two pigeons and a quantity of grain …or finding a bag of recently used gin traps in the gamekeeper’s shed during the police search under warrant which followed…
Blogmeister, whoever you are…dont let threats from those with a vested interest in wildlife crime prevent you from giving out the facts…its because of this craven culture of acceptance – “its aye been” – that we still have the high levels of raptor killing on scottish estates.
Cheers Dave. There are a lot of people who don’t like this blog – they’ve ‘phoned our contributors to issue veiled threats, they’ve threatened their employees with disciplinary action if they dare to comment in their own time, they’ve been urging the police to get involved, they’ve threatened to withdraw public funding for legitimate causes, and so it goes on. And this hasn’t been at the hand of the estate owners either! It’s been an eye-opener. We’re fortunate to have a lot of supporters out there, some from surprising places.
Well Blogmeister, if a lot of people are getting upset re this blog then maybe you are doing something right and getting near the truth. There are also a lot who like it, I for one have been telling anybody interested in nature about it. Although you taking out my ending of the first comment as potentially defamatory seems odd, I was just being sarcastic in saying “xxx xxxx” [Edited again!]at the end of it. Oops I seem to have put first comment in again by accident, please feel free to delete.
Hi Stewart,
For the record, your sarcastic sentiment is shared! However, we won’t risk the blog being closed down just for the sake of a few words. We also agree with your reasoning about why certain people may be upset about the blog. Thanks for having the guts to speak out.
I never thought for an instant that any gamekeeper who kept pigeons in a crow trap, or had recently used illegal gin traps in a bag in his shed could be anything else but “PRESUMED INNOCENT” !!!
Hi Blogmeister,
I would never have thought that these “innocent” shooting estates would have any cause to try and shut down your blog. After all if they are as innocent as they make out, then why bother. On the other hand if they are not innocent then they would no doubt like to see you closed down. It seems that they may be condemning themselves by trying or getting others to try and shut you down. I will try from now on to watch my words, but on the other hand, perhaps we could have a competition to see how many xxxxxxxxxxxxs one can get in a comment. 1st prize could be a day out at an shooting estate, 2nd prize 2 days.
Stewart..sadly its not the estates [directly] that are the problem here…its the scottish legal establishment …an altogether more worrying area….as well as a clear case of “shooting the messenger”….there are also those who think if they “play the game” ie keep everything low key and out of sight then somehow the killers will respond. I also have a distinct feeling that there is considerable high level sympathy for the anti-raptor lobby, including at least one politician who nhas been suckered into the ludicrous “its all a conservationist set-up/planting of evidence line”Thats why its so important to keep churning out the true facts of persecuion as soon as they are known. Of course if there was an effective legal enforcement response to such crimes, this blog would be irrelevant. Sadly, thats far frome the case.
I’m glad you (raptor persecution Scotland) have reminded your clearly prejudice bloggers that the gamekeepers involved in this raid are innocent until proven guilty, although I’m sure Dave dick would like to see them I’m shackles, he has a long history of persecuting keepers, it’s a shame this website gives him a platform to spout his poisonous words.
Grouseman – welcome to the blog. Dave Dick is given a platform for the same reason you are. Please keep your comments polite and especially if referring to a named individual.
Dave, I agree with your comments. Lets just keep spreading the word using this blog, word of mouth, anything that informs people of what is going on. One day an estate owner will get jailed, hopefully soon and that will change their thinking. Just keep on publicizing every persecution incident and it will happen.
We seem to have ruffled a few Grouse feathers.