Mystery as rare golden eagle ‘goes missing’ near estate

A ROW has broken out over the fate of a rare golden eagle after conservationists voiced fears it may have been killed on a Highland estate.

The RSPB has appealed to the public after a satellite tracking tag attached to a young male bird in Aberdeenshire stopped working on March 5.

Its last known location was near North Glenbuchat Estate and experts said if it had died naturally, the device would have continued working.

But estate owners hit back, saying they have footage of the bird – known to researchers as eagle 338, pictured below – alive and well on Thursday.

A police search of the estate, where a satellite-tagged golden eagle was found poisoned in 2011, found no sign of the bird.

Ian Thomson of RSPB Scotland said: ‘These tags are very reliable and the sudden cessation of transmissions strongly suggests the bird has died.’

But, releasing the film footage yesterday, estate director Laura Sorrentino said: ‘The head keeper filmed what he firmly believes to be the eagle in question yesterday afternoon [Thursday] at 2.17pm and that film was sent to the wildlife crime officer later yesterday.

‘The estate is shocked by the clear implication that it may have been involved in the disappearance of this eagle.

‘There was an incident six years ago when a dead eagle was found on estate land and at that time the estate issued a very robust statement condemning the poisoning and emphatically denying any involvement.

‘There is no evidence that the estate has been involved in any wrongdoing or criminal activity.’