Blame is for birds

Your story “Tagged bird of prey goes missing on grouse estate” (1 September) contains the clear implication that the fate of a missing satellitetagged Hen Harrier Calluna is connected to the management of grouse moors. Estates in the Deeside area are appalled at this suggestion. At this stage, no-one knows what has happened to the bird. The problem with the “guilty until proven innocent” attitude taken by the RSPB on these incidents is that it may be successful in smearing shooting estates and gamekeepers but fails to involve the very people who are best placed to help – land managers and gamekeepers.

No-one can discount the possibility of any species being killed deliberately or accidentally and we do not seek to deny this has happened on shooting estates in the past. Equally, there have been various instances where sat tags have stopped working and birds have reappeared at a later date, as the RSPB themselves have clearly demonstrated at the Langholm project in June this year.

The search for Calluna would have been assisted greatly had estates and land managers been informed around the time of its disappearance three weeks ago. On Thursday, when the RSPB issued the appeal, three harriers were spotted in the area where Calluna disappeared and harriers have been welcomed in the area throughout August. We are happy to join the appeal for information and land managers are always ready to help in trying to establish what happened. They are very conscious of the role and responsibility they have and firmly believe collaboration achieves the best results. This, surely, is more productive than pointing fingers of blame before the facts are known.

DAVID JOHNSTONE Chairman Scottish Land & Estates Stuart House Eskmills Business Park Musselburgh