A sporting estate where two young golden eagles have disappeared has denied any wrongdoing after Chris Packham claimed "criminals" in the grouse shooting industry were responsible.

The Whitaker family that owns the Auchanfree Estate, near Dunkeld in Perthshire, said they were "absolutely shocked" at the raptors vanishing on the same day and "we were delighted to have them."

They said Police Scotland was "satisfied" that neither the estate nor its employees were involved and issued an appeal for information about the disappearance.

Auchanfree Sporting, the estate's tenants, said they have "no problem" with the eagles and assisted police with their investigation.

But Mr Packham, the TV naturalist, said the eagles had disappeared "under very suspicious circumstances" and claimed driven grouse shooting was "underpinned with criminality - let's end it."

In a serious of messages on social media, he issued a direct challenge to Nicola Sturgeon to crack down on sporting estates, saying: "There is more eagle blood in your backyard - spilled by the criminals from the grouse shooting industry."