Moy Estate raid update and Skibo Castle Estate worker fined

Moy Estate - see post of 4 June 2010 'Moy Estate raided'.

When police raided the estate last June they found an estate worker with a dead red kite which, he said, he'd found in a trap set for stoats and weasels. The bird had not been poisoned but the worker had put the bird a Land Rover and did not tell his manager, the RSPB or police. The former apprentice gamekeeper has been fined £1500 at Inverness Sheriff Court.

Also at Inverness Sheriff court this week, an estate worker at the exclusive Skibo Castle estate has been fined £3300 for possession of the banned insecticide Carbofuran. He had 10kg, enough to "wipe out the entire Scottish golden eagle and red kite populations several times over" according to the RSPB. It was accepted that the worker had no part in the deaths of two golden eagles and a sparrow hawk found on the estate in May 2010, otherwise the Sheriff would have imprisoned him.

Neither Moy nor Skibo Estates appear to have been held accountable for the actions of their employees. At least I can find no reports saying so.

What with landowners in the Highlands queuing up to allow wind power station developments and reports such as the above, it is all very depressing.

Source: BBC Scotland Highlands and Islands reporter Steven McKenzie

Moy Estate raided

Police have raided the Moy Estate near Inverness following the discovery of poisoned birds of prey in the area. Several red kites had been killed and a grouse carcass had tested positive for an illegal poison.

Forty five investigators including 25 police officers, SSPCA and RSPB staff, wildlife conservation officers and SNH staff took part in the raid.

RSPB Scotland reported that one of the dead kites had been among a number of birds of prey which had been satellite tagged for a school project called 'Eyes to the Skies'. The signal, which was being tracked on the internet, stopped moving and this raised suspicions. (Source: BBC Scotland News)

Anyone found guilty of this appalling act should receive the harshest sentence available.

Later this year Carbon Free Developments are due to submit an application to erect 55 wind turbines on Moy no doubt bringing substantial financial reward to the owner of the estate, if, as seems likely, it is approved.

Dunmaglass and Moy Estates - Wind Turbines

I've just heard that Highland Council planning committee have voted by six to two in favour of the erection of 33 wind turbines on the Dunmaglass Estate. The Cairngorm National Park Authority and The John Muir Trust opposed the application and 1556 letters of objection were received and 912 for.

Meanwhile Carbon Free Developments want to establish 55 turbines on the Moy Estate and will likely submit an application later this year. The developer will probably offer free or discounted power as a community benefit.

I'm afraid there is simply no stopping the march of these ineffective monstrosities across Scotland.