Raptor persecution

The persecution of raptors, or birds of prey, is the most high-profile type of wildlife crime in Scotland and it can have a serious impact on the populations of some raptor species at local, regional or (if carried out more widely) national level.

There were 14 raptor persecution offences in 2023-24 and 21 offences in 2024-25.
Figure 21: raptor persecution offences recorded by Police Scotland, 2019-20 to 2024-25.

There were 117 recorded raptor persecution offences over the 6-year period 2019-20 to 2024-25, ranging from 11 to 25 offences per year. These covered a range of crime types including shooting (31 offences) and poisoning (21 offences). There were 17 recorded crimes over the same period in a broad “other or unknown” category, which includes recorded crimes where insufficient information was available to classify them more specifically.

Considering the new data in this report, in 2023-24 the most commonly targeted species were golden eagles (3 offences) followed by peregrine falcons and red kites (2 offences each). In 2024-25, the most commonly targeted species were peregrine falcons and red kites (5 offences each), followed by white-tailed sea eagles (3 offences).

Further detail: see Table 57 of the supporting documents for further information on raptor persecution offences by species, Table 58 for offences by type of crime, and Tables 59 and 60 for offences by police division, target species and offence summary.