Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime (PAWS) Scotland has announced a slight increase in the number of crimes involving birds of prey in 2015.
Twenty bird of prey crimes were recorded in 2015 including six poisoning incidents. The birds involved in these incidents include buzzards, red kites, peregrine falcons, goshawks, osprey and a hen harrier. Poisoning was the most frequently recorded bird of prey crime, but there were also five shootings, five cases of disturbance, three trapping or attempted trapping offences and one chick theft.
Scottish Countryside Alliance director Jamie Stewart Said: "As members of PAW Scotland, we support the publication of official data on all wildlife crime. While we recognise that 2015 did not represent a further decrease in raptor crimes, we look to longer term trends to reflect the true picture.
"Overall annual variations are now very small. Poisoning incidents are now 40 per cent down on four years ago and now stand at six cases across the whole of Scotland. The 2015 figures show that the numbers of birds shot has roughly halved over the last three years.
"The biggest rise was in incidents of disturbance, with two known to be related to ospreys. The ringing and tagging of chicks of birds of prey would seem to be at an all-time high, I suspect that many of the nests reported abandoned were due to the over-eager actions of those operating in the name of conservation.
"We reiterate our condemnation of any raptor crime, whatever the reason, and will continue to work with other PAW Scotland partners to try to ensure that it will become a thing of the past."