MOORLAND managers are once again at odds with RSPB Scotland, after the conservation charity marked the start of the grouse shooting season by blaming the gamebird sector for the disappearance of eight golden eagles.

The spat began when the RSPB issued an appeal for information regarding a missing golden eagle, which had earlier in its life been tagged with a radio transmitter. The bird's last recorded position placed her in the northern Monadhliath mountains, south east of Inverness, on July 2 – which, said the RSPB, made her the eighth of the species to vanish in the same area in less than five years.

Despite comprehensive searches of the areas around the last recorded positions of all eight missing eagles, none of the birds or transmitters had been recovered, and no further data had been received from the transmitters, despite their being designed to keep transmitting if a tagged bird dies or if they become detached.

RSPB Scotland’s head of investigations Ian Thomson said: “It is surely no coincidence that the overwhelming majority of satellite-tagged birds of prey that have disappeared in Scotland have been in areas intensively managed for gamebird shooting and in areas that have an appalling previous record of confirmed incidents of raptor persecution.

"These eight birds have all disappeared in an area where driven grouse moor management dominates the landscape, and where there have been many previous cases of illegal killing of protected raptors, including the poisoning of a golden eagle and a white-tailed eagle as recently as 2010.

“Given the reliability of the transmitters, the chance of so many birds disappearing over such a short timescale without some kind of human interference is so small as to be negligible," said Mr Thomson. "The pattern we see here is consistent with the birds having been killed and the transmitters destroyed.

“Once again, the commendable positive efforts of those landowners and estates who welcome golden eagles and host their nesting attempts, including elsewhere in the Monadhliaths, are being catastrophically undermined by those who have a complete disregard for the law, and who continue to threaten the conservation status of these magnificent birds."

Responding to the RSPB's statement, the Scottish Moorland Group director Tim Baynes said: “There is no clear evidence of the golden eagles having even died in the Monadhliath area, let alone having been 'persecuted' on grouse moors as RSPB is alleging.

"It is now over a month since the disappearance of this latest eagle and it would have been in everyone’s interests if the matter had been raised immediately," said Mr Baynes. "There are other explanations for satellite tags stopping working and the failure of RSPB to involve land managers in trying to establish the facts is disappointing. Anyone with any information regarding the disappearance of an eagle should contact the police.

“There is a clearly established process within the Partnership for Action Against Wildlife Crime – which includes the police – for dealing with instances of disappearing satellite-tagged birds," he added.

"Where there is not a police investigation, as in these cases, contact should be made with local land managers who are often in the best position to help with information. Regrettably, RSPB has not done this and it is not the first time. RSPB would appear to be more interested in generating anti-shooting publicity on the eve of the grouse shooting season.”