Man baited birds of prey with poisoned pheasants in shooting rights row
A man baited birds of prey with pheasants coated in rat poison amid a feud with a neighbouring landowner over shooting rights.
A court heard Clive Burgoyne, 38, gutted four pheasant carcasses and filled them with rat poison in an attempt to damage the reputation of the Guynd estate near Arbroath, Angus.
At Forfar sheriff court in April 2025, Burgoyne pleaded guilty to a breach of wildlife legislation between January and February 2023.
The court heard he left four pheasant carcasses coated in rodenticide which would cause haemorrhaging in birds of prey.
On Thursday, at the same court, he was given a community order and 135 hours of unpaid work to be completed within 12 months, the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said.
Prosecutors said he put birds of prey 'at risk of injury or death' using a known rat poison which can kill them in a single feed.
Witnesses saw Burgoyne in the front passenger seat of a car travelling towards, and later away, from the Guynd estate on the morning of Feb 3, 2023.
A short time later, an estate worker discovered a dead pheasant on a footpath, COPFS said.
The breast had been removed and the bird was covered in a quantity of grain and seed which was then coated in a bright blue liquid.
A further search of the area revealed three more dead pheasants nearby which had been similarly cut open and treated, according to COPFS.
Blue grain was a known rodenticide
Analysis carried out by officials at the Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture confirmed the blue grain was a known rodenticide.
They believed the pheasant carcasses had been prepared and set out with the intention of causing harm to birds.
A sample of Burgoyne's DNA was found on all four of the dead birds.
Iain Batho, who leads on wildlife and environmental crime at COPFS, said: 'It is highly important to preserve Scotland's natural heritage, including the wildlife that forms part of it.
'As such, wild birds are given strict protection by our law.
'Clive Burgoyne's reckless actions put various wildlife, particularly birds of prey, at risk of injury and death.
'COPFS takes offences under the Wildlife and Countryside Act seriously and will prosecute individuals where there is sufficient evidence of a crime.
'This case is a testament to the collaborative working between COPFS, Police Scotland, and Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture, who in this case were able to provide vital forensic evidence,' he added.
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It is estimated that dung beetles save farmers in the UK £367 million per year…' Then we have that NHS Fife obsession: how big is your fish supper? In fact, fish and chips – cooked properly and well – is a remarkably healthy meal. There is, for instance, no added sugar. It is rich in Omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins B12 and D, and high-quality protein – and less fat than a typical serving of, say, chicken tikka masala or an oil-slicked Chinese takeaway. 'Typically,' assures one authority, 'fish and chips on average have 9.42 grams of fat per 100 grams, while the average pizza has 11, chicken korma 15.5 and a donner kebab a whopping 16.2…' We come to SWAC's vapourings about angling. One rather doubts such solicitude extends to every creature of the earth. Even the Commission's august personages doubtless prefer life without headlice, tapeworms and rats and most, presumably, vaccinate their children. It remains official NatureScot advice to smash dead any American signal crayfish you meet in our fresh waters and, for over two decades, it has been determinedly exterminating feral mink in the Western Isles. Where SWAC may have a point is the dubious practice of 'catch and release.' My own view is that you should only venture out with the rod for fish you can eat and, having caught your salmon and thumped it on the head, you head for home and the deep freeze, rather than hauling in fish after fish, weighing them, measuring them, taking a few snaps for social media and then returning them to the deep. Not forgetting a protracted chat about emotional experiences that really mattered to them. But, in coarse fishing, catch and release is the whole point: we might, perhaps, command barbless hooks, or even the soluble sort decreed in the pursuit of bluefin tuna. The wild Atlantic salmon may not always be with us; the typical Scottish political animal will add to the gaiety of nations for decades to come. Bossy, virtue-signalling, carefully picking its targets, and unconsciously living what Ronald Reagan once mocked as the prevalent tenets in modern statecraft. If it moves, tax it; if it keeps moving, regulate it – and, if it stops moving, subsidise it.
