A Scottish laird claims one of Britain's most protected birds of prey is killing endangered red squirrels.
Lord Burton of Dochfour claims red kites are feeding on red squirrels, and has seen the raptors fly off with them on his estate overlooking Loch Ness.
The birds were once persecuted to extinction in Scotland but this week it was announced their numbers had reached a 150-year high following a 20-year re-introduction programme.
The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) announced on Thursday that 149 pairs nested this summer and produced 234 young. They are now relatively often spotted in some parts of Scotland.
However, landowner Lord Burton says they are "devastating" local populations of the threatened red squirrel - which are themselves the subject of a UK-wide conservation project.
He said: "We had two of these birds released upon us. They were quite tame and young birds, so there was little doubt as to their food source.
"They sat on the deer fence on our drive, and I saw them flying off on three occasions with squirrels in their talons. They did not leave until all five - two old and three young squirrels - had disappeared.
"This was damage by two young birds, so how many squirrels are taken by red kites over Scotland?
"They cannot be expected to exist in the numbers which RSPB have released, and with the land managers being forbidden to leave carrion on their ground, there is not sufficient carrion to sustain the current number of kites."
A spokesman for RSPB Scotland described Lord Burton’s claims as "extremely surprising”.
He added that the two species must have once coexisted happily for thousands of years, and said that none of the 500 kite nests examined since 1992 contained traces of red squirrel.
The spokesman said: "These birds are incapable of catching such agile prey and they do not have the necessary equipment to do so.
"In Victorian times, red kites were wiped out by human persecution and their reintroduction is a great success story.
"Most people are very happy to see them. They are quite inspirational."
RSPB Scotland also said that it was unreasonable to suggest that a bird that had only been reintroduced in the past 20 years was responsible for the current plight of the red squirrel.
