BIRDS of prey are thriving on Scottish grouse moors due to gamekeepers’ conservation efforts, it was claimed this week.

Game industry campaign group, the Gift of Grouse, published figures highlighting the different raptor species, including golden eagles, buzzards, red kites and hen harriers, identified on grouse moors across the Angus Glens Moorland Group this year.

Head gamekeeper on Invermark Estate, Garry MacLennan, said: “Scottish grouse moors are far from being raptor deserts, as some opponents of shooting claim.

“We have monitored a growing number of buzzards, kestrels, golden eagles and white-tailed eagles. Keepers and estate managers do recognise there are some areas of the country where there are fewer raptor species but there is plenty of hard evidence to show that raptors are successfully nesting on grouse moors.”

Figures revealed in Wildlife Estates Scotland’s latest annual report show that 11 accredited estates reported the presence of golden eagles, with seven of these reporting 19 pairs. Eleven estates also recorded sightings of hen harriers with four reporting 18 breeding pairs. Buzzards were also reported on 20 estates, with a total estimated population of over 920 birds.

It was also recently reported that golden eagle numbers have surpassed 500 pairs giving them a ‘favourable conservation status’ in the UK. Millden Estate, a member of the Angus Glens Moorland Group, recording a particularly high number of sightings. Head gamekeeper Jason Clamp commented: “We are fortunate enough at Millden to have regular sightings of golden eagles. Seeing several of these magnificent birds on a daily basis has to be one of the highlights of my job. We are also very careful to leave a sustainable population of mountain hares for birds of prey, such as golden eagles, to hunt.

“At Millden our team of gamekeepers has taken a proactive role in ensuring that we have a suitable breeding habitat for various birds of prey such the merlin, of which we currently have four nesting pairs. This has been brought about through controlled heather burning ‘muirburn’, which creates micro habitats suited to ground-nesting birds like the merlin."

These claims were, however, met with disdain from RSPB Scotland, which said that the Gift Of Grouse campaign was attempting to cover up the continued persecution of birds of prey on areas of land managed for grouse shooting.

The RSPB pointed out peer-reviewed scientific reports published in the last 12 months that linked sharp declines in nesting peregrines and hen harriers in NE Scotland to illegal killing, and noted that a recently-published SNH report had suggested continued persecution of red kites in north Scotland, while the 2015 golden eagle survey found that levels of home range occupancy by eagles in the eastern highlands were below the national average.

The charity also has concerns about the regular disappearance of satellite-tagged birds of prey in grouse moor areas, to the extent that a review of these incidents has been commissioned by the Environment Cabinet Secretary Roseanna Cunningham.

RSPB Scotland’s head of investigations, Ian Thomson said: “The content of today’s statement from the Gift of Grouse campaign is pure, unadulterated propaganda from an industry that, quite rightly, is under increasing public scrutiny by the Scottish Parliament. Their claims have no supporting evidence, their methodology is not explained, and to suggest that incidental observations of raptors which may merely have been flying over an estate indicate a population that is 'thriving' is clearly ludicrous."