CRIMES against birds of prey fell by over a quarter last year, according to the latest figures released by the Partnership for Action against Wildlife Crime.

The partnership's latest incident map shows 14 confirmed bird of prey crimes compared to 19 the previous year.

Species illegally killed included buzzards and a goshawk, while golden eagle and osprey were victims of 'disturbance' cases. There were four recorded incidents of poisoning, four shootings, three cases of disturbance and three trapping or attempted trapping offences.

Confirmed poisoning incidents fell from six in 2015 to four last year, the second lowest number of recorded poisonings in a single year since PAW Scotland began publishing its maps in 2004.

Environment secretary Roseanna Cunningham said: “While this is good news, there is still much work to be done. I have ordered a review of the data from satellite tagged birds of prey in an attempt to shed new light on the disappearance of a number of tagged birds.

“So while I welcome these figures today, my message remains clear – the illegal persecution of Scotland’s magnificent birds of prey must end," said Ms Cunninghame. "The National Wildlife Crime Unit, now based in Stirling, plays an important role in protecting our wildlife. I’m delighted to confirm a further year of funding to allow the unit to continue its important work and help protect all of our wildlife, including birds of prey.”

Commenting on the report, Scottish Land and Estates chief executive Douglas McAdam said: “As a committed member of the partnership working to eradicate all forms of wildlife crime, we are very pleased and encouraged by the further reduction in incidents.

“Poisoning incidents are down to four recorded cases. Overall incidents have dropped from 19 to 14 in the last year, a 26% reduction and now at the lowest level since data on all types of incident was first published in 2013," said Mr McAdam. "This is encouraging news and demonstrates the value of people working together on the ground and raising awareness of the issue. There is still work to do to eradicate this problem and the evidence points to measures that have been put in place having the desired effect."

The SLaE chief pointed out that Scotland has one of the 'toughest' legislative regimes around bird of prey crime, some of it introduced quite recently, some of it – particularly proposed new penalties for wildlife crime – not yet introduced.

"That should help deliver a further fall in raptor crime and needs to be given time to work," he said. "The land management sector recognises that some of the incidents may have been related to game shooting interests and is committed to keep working to bring those figures down even further in future. We strongly endorse the careful use of proven police evidence in drawing up these maps and although there is limited information about some incidents, the range of species and locations indicates that the motivation behind these crimes is varied."