Feathers fly as 12th tagged golden eagle is lost near grouse moors

● Fresh row erupts as conservationists suggest bird has been illegally killed

Fears have been raised over the fate of another of Scotland’s protected golden eagles after its satellite tag ceased transmitting.

Conservationists have expressed concern for the young male bird, whose whereabouts has been unknown since communications were lost in December.

They fear the two-yearold could have been illegally killed, as his last recorded location was in the northern Monadhliath mountains in Inverness-shire, where a number of other birds have vanished in the past seven years.

Data from the transmitter showed he had been living in upland region north of Tomatin since early last year. He had stayed almost exclusively in this area, which is home to grouse shooting moors, until the tag stopped broadcasting.

The report comes shortly after it emerged that a tagged golden eagle known as Fred was lost in similar circumstances near Edinburgh.

A police investigation has been launched but no further clues have so far been found.

A report commissioned by the Scottish Government found 41 out of 131 satellitetagged golden eagles disappeared in “suspicious circumstances” in the Highlands during a 12-year period, with the majority of incidents occurring

0 Over a 12-year period, 41 out of 131 tagged golden eagles have disappeared in the Highlands over land managed for driven grouse shooting.

Duncan Orr-ewing, head of species and land management for RSPB Scotland, said: “This is now the 12th tagged eagle to go missing in this ‘black hole’ in just seven years, and is entirely consistent with the systematic and ongoing illegal persecution of eagles in this area.”

He added: “There can be little doubt that current legislation and enforcement have proven to be insufficient deterrents to those criminals, invariably linked to the management of driven grouse shooting, who are intent on killing protected birds of prey.”

But estate owners have hit back, claiming accusations of illegal persecution should be substantiated.

David Johnstone, chairman of Scottish Land & Estates, said: “Yet again we see RSPB acting unilaterally as judge and jury.

“Webelievethiscontinual smearing of grouse moors actually runs the risk of being counterproductive and directly impacting all the good, productive collaboration that has taken place in recent years.”