Goshawk shot in Highland

Police officers in Inverness are appealing for information after a Northern Goshawk was found dead near Loch Farr.

The female hawk was found in a tree in nearby Forestry Land Scotland (FLS) woodland on 10 July. The bird was recovered with assistance from the FLS and the RSPB. Following a postmortem, it was established that the hawk had been shot.

A post-mortem of the female Northern Goshawk revealed that it had been shot (Mick Colquhoun).

Wildlife crime officer Constable Daniel Sutherland commented: "This was a cruel and callous act against a protected bird of prey which will simply not be tolerated. I am grateful to the member of public who came across the bird and reported it to us.

"Wildlife crime can be challenging to investigate and we work closely with a number of partners to investigate and bring those who seek to destroy or harm wildlife to justice. I am therefore appealing to anyone with information about this incident or who may have seen anything suspicious in this area to please contact police on 101, quoting reference NM/3907/21."

Ian Thomson, RSPB Scotland's Head of Investigations, added: "It's both depressing and worrying that in 21st-century Scotland, rare and protected birds of prey are still being routinely killed. Goshawks are regularly targeted, even in publicly owned forests, despite their role as predators of crows and pigeons, species that some people regard as pests."

Graeme Prest, FLS North Regional Manager, said: "We work hard to safeguard all protected species on our land so it is extremely disappointing to find an incident such as this has taken place on land managed by FLS. We carry out regular monitoring of sites in this area and will continue to work with local police officers, the Highland Partnership Against Wildlife Crime and RSPB to ensure that all incidents of wildlife crime are reported and investigated."