“
Scottish ministers have been privately urged to back plans for a golf course on a coastal wildlife site. This has been condemned as “backdoor lobbying that tries to bypass the rules”.
“
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Infrastructure
Wildlife lowlight of the week
(677 posts)-
Posted 4 months ago #
-
The cob was nowhere to be seen when I took this photo by the canoeing lake at Musselburgh Lagoons yesterday :(
There was, however, a good number of adult swans, plus a few adolescents from last year, swimming around at the mouth of the Esk. Which was nice.
I just wonder whether there might be a link between this latest dog-attacks-swan incident and the goings on at Blackford Pond last year and the year before, which ended up with the pond swanless despite a whole new family being imported from Granton last summer. I'm thinking along the lines of some idiot going around setting their XL Bully or whatever at local wildlife in an attempt to compensate for their personal inadequacies?
Posted 3 months ago # -
See also: Straiton Pond, which similarly has had its swan population reduced time to time, including recently, by uncontrolled dogs, uncontrolled fishing lines and goodness knows what else.
However, I understand that adult swans can themselves be quite aggressive towards their young, a bit "You're old enough to leave home now. Get out and don't come back".
Posted 3 months ago # -
“
A funding deal to raise £100m from private investors for urgently needed nature restoration in Scotland has fallen through without the Scottish parliament being told.
The Guardian has learned that Aberdeen, the investment firm, decided to withdraw from a partnership with the agency NatureScot to raise at least £100m for conservation projects from commercial and private investors late last year.
Scottish government ministers did not disclose that when the Highlands Labour MSP Rhoda Grant tabled a question at Holyrood asking for an update on what was known as the nature investment partnership.
“
Posted 3 months ago # -
“
Sepa gave 400 Scottish lochs 'good' environmental status but only checked 54 of them
Lochs are classified as having a “good” environmental status based on samples from other lochs many miles away – and as much as a decade old – prompting concerns that environmental regulation isn’t “fit for purpose”.
“
Posted 2 months ago # -
Further to my post of 2 weeks ago, I stumbled across this article in the East Lothian courier, dated 30th March this year:
Swan left with 'serious injuries' after dog attack
...
The spokesperson encouraged people to keep their pets under control and highlighted that this was not the first time a swan was injured.
They said: “In 2024, the male swan died from a head trauma injury while protecting the nest when people snatched the eggs and smashed them.
“After his death, the female hatched and reared a single cygnet which was killed by a loose dog after three weeks, dying in a ranger’s hands before it could be collected by the SSPCA for emergency care.
“Last year, the swans failed to hatch a single egg after nine attempts to nest were disturbed by people taking eggs and smashing them and, on one occasion, a loose dog removing an egg from the nest.”
(FWIW, the penalty for such offences is up to six months in choky and an unlimited fine.)
Posted 2 months ago # -
“
It is the resulting chick – satellite-tagged since birth and now fully grown – that has now disappeared. The cause of the disappearance is unknown.
But one possibility aligns with what the RSPB says is a largely unchallenged scandal: the routine shooting, trapping or poisoning of birds of prey in the UK. The proximity of the eagle’s last known location to a number of large grouse shooting estates has not gone unnoticed. Between 2015 and 2024, 921 confirmed incidents of raptor persecution were recorded, of which at least 55% occurred on or near land managed for game bird shooting, according to the RSPB.
“
Posted 1 month ago # -
Gameys are pre-programmed to shoot Raptors
Or poison them
Or trap them in a Hansen Cage and bludgeon them to death
Posted 1 month ago # -
Police appeal after Squeagle the golden eagle found with shotgun injuries
Squeagle, a four-year-old female golden eagle, was moved from the Outer Hebrides to the Lammermuir Hills in the Scottish Borders in February 2026 as part of a translocation project run by Restoring Upland Nature (RUN). She is fitted with a satellite tag which allows her movements to be monitored.
Detective Sergeant David Lynn, National Wildlife Crime Coordinator said: “This was a serious attack on a protected bird of prey which I utterly condemn. Thanks to the quick actions of those who reported concerns, the golden eagle was able to receive specialist treatment and has since been returned to the wild. We are working with partners across Scotland and northern England to establish where and when she was shot.
“Following treatment by veterinary specialists at the Scottish SPCA, Squeagle was released back into the wild on Saturday, 6 June, 2026. Her condition will continue to be monitored through observations and detailed analysis of satellite tracking.
“Enquiries remain ongoing, and we are working alongside our colleagues in Northumberland, Durham, Cumbria and North Yorkshire, supported by the UK National Wildlife Crime Unit to establish who was responsible.”
Anyone with information is asked to contact Police Scotland, quoting incident number 1361 of 5 June 2026.
(At least the unfortunate eagle's wounds rule out most of the pathetic excuses for raptor deaths near shooting estates churned out by the oxymoronically-named British Association for Shooting and Conservation. It's a bit like the ABD renaming itself the British Association for Driving and the Safety of Vulnerable Road Users.)
Posted 1 week ago # -
Swift nest reportedly thrown in skip during house renovations in South Tyneside
That's an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (it's actually Schedule 1 of Part 1 of the act, shades of Alice in Wonderland*). And the company concerned has form for that kind of thing.
A single swiftlet that was found in a badly damaged nest was taken in by Laura Crompton, of Pawz for Thought, a local wildlife rescue centre. Though dehydrated and in a poor condition when found, it is said to be stabilising.
Nest debris was also seen in a skip used by the contractors, which was removed from the site before NSG [Northern Swifts Group] representatives could make further checks, and the damaged nest was found where many birds had been reported. South Tyneside council is investigating the incident.
...
Sue Hope, of the NSG, told the Guardian it was unlikely that only one nest had been destroyed, as swifts tended to nest in colonies. Nests also tended to contain two or three swiftlets. She said that on her visit to the site on Wednesday afternoon, she saw at least 10 swifts circling above.
* “It’s the oldest rule in the book,” said the King. “Then it should be Number One,” said Alice.
Posted 21 hours ago #
Reply
You must log in to post.
posts
