{"id":246033,"date":"2025-11-05T21:25:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T21:25:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/246033\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T21:25:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T21:25:10","slug":"naturescot-says-decision-in-next-few-weeks-on-whether-to-impose-general-licence-restriction-in-relation-to-shooting-killing-of-golden-eagle-merrick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/246033\/","title":{"rendered":"NatureScot says \u201cdecision in next few weeks\u201d on whether to impose General Licence restriction in relation to shooting & killing of golden eagle\u00a0Merrick"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Scottish Government\u2019s nature advisory agency, NatureScot, has been now been procrastinating for over 18 months on whether to impose a sanction on an estate in relation to the \u2018shooting and killing\u2019 of a sleeping Golden Eagle called Merrick. But apparently a decision is now expected \u201cin the next few weeks\u201d.<\/p>\n

Merrick was a young satellite-tagged Golden Eagle, released in south Scotland in 2022 as part of the South Scotland Golden Eagle Project, a lottery-funded conservation initiative which translocated young Golden Eagles from various sites across north Scotland to boost the tiny remnants of the Golden Eagle breeding population in south Scotland that had previously been decimated by illegal persecution and had\u00a0become isolated<\/a>\u00a0by geographic barriers.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Camera trap photo of golden eagle Merrick in 2022, from South Scotland Golden Eagle Project<\/p>\n

A year after her release, which had seen her fly around south Scotland and down into northern England and back, on 12 October 2023 Merrick\u2019s satellite tag suddenly and inexplicably stopped transmitting from a roost site in the Moorfoot Hills in the Scottish Borders where she\u2019d been sleeping overnight.<\/p>\n

A project officer from the South Scotland Golden Eagle Project went to her last known location where he found Merrick\u2019s feathers and blood directly below her roost tree. Police Scotland later determined from the evidence that she\u2019d been \u2018shot and killed\u2019 and that someone had then \u2018removed her body and destroyed her satellite tag\u2019 (see\u00a0here<\/a>).<\/p>\n

There was limited scope for anyone to be charged and prosecuted for killing this eagle unless someone in the know came forward with sufficient evidence to identify the individual(s) responsible. In addition, the prospect of an estate having its grouse-shooting licence withdrawn as a consequence of this crime was zero, given that this offence took place prior to the enactment of the Wildlife & Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024, the legislation that introduced grouse moor licensing.<\/p>\n

That just left a General Licence restriction as a possible sanction. Not that I\u2019d describe a GL restriction as an effective sanction, for reasons that have been explored previously on this blog (e.g.\u00a0here<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0here<\/a>). Nevertheless, it\u2019s still\u00a0something\u00a0and, given the high-profile of Merrick\u2019s death, you might think that making a decision on whether to impose a GL restriction would be a high priority for NatureScot.<\/p>\n

Not so. <\/p>\n

I wrote about NatureScot\u2019s procrastination on this case in August (see\u00a0here<\/a>), after receiving a response to a Freedom of Information request I\u2019d lodged in June 2025. That response confirmed that NatureScot had received an information package from Police Scotland, on which it would base its General Licence restriction decision, in April 2024.<\/p>\n

I blogged again in September, highlighting that NatureScot had now procrastinated for 17 months. Unbeknownst to me at the time, that blog prompted two blog readers to write to NatureScot, and one of them lodged a formal complaint against the agency.<\/p>\n

Blog reader Stuart Wilson has kindly given permission for me to share the response he received recently from NatureScot in relation to his complaint, which is almost identical to the response blog reader SusanH shared on this blog a few days ago on an unrelated post.<\/p>\n

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