Clive Burgoyne, 38, of Forfar, carried out the crime as part of an ongoing feud with a local landowner over shooting rights. He hoped that his actions would cause reputational damage to the landowner’s country estate.

Burgoyne was given the community payback order at Forfar Sheriff Court after he admitted a breach of wildlife legislation between January and February 2023.

Prosecutors told how witnesses saw Burgoyne in the front passenger seat of a car travelling towards, and later away, from the Guynd estate near Arbroath on the morning of February 3, 2023.

A short time later, an estate worker discovered a dead pheasant on a footpath within the estate. 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. Analysis confirmed the blue grain was an anticoagulant rodenticide formulation containing the active ingredient difenacoum.

They believed the appearance of the pheasant carcases suggested they had been prepared and set out with the intention of causing harm to birds. Difenacoum is highly toxic to birds and if consumed causes haemorrhaging. A single feed from a baited carcass would prove fatal to a raptor.

The court heard that the dead pheasants had clearly been left out in the open to attract non-target species such as birds of prey. After being arrested, a sample of Burgoyne’s DNA was found on all four of the dead birds.

Iain Batho, who leads on wildlife and environmental crime for the Crown Office, said: “The result in this case is a testament to the collaborative working between COPFS, Police Scotland, and Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA), who in this case were able to provide vital forensic evidence.”