Press release from National Wildlife Crime Unit
OPERATION EASTER 2019 – STOPPING EGG THIEVES AND EGG COLLECTORS
Wild birds are nesting and the national campaign to protect them across the UK is underway. Egg thieves will go to any lengths to raid the nests of rare species but Operation EASTER is determined to stop them in their tracks.
Operation EASTER was developed in Scotland 22 years ago. The operation is now facilitated by the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU) in conjunction with UK police forces and partner agencies. The operation targets egg thieves by sharing intelligence across the UK to support enforcement action.
In recent years the operation has also been expanded to look at those who might take raptor eggs or chicks to launder into falconry, those who are suspected of disturbing nests for photography and those who trade eggs online.
The taking of wild bird eggs is a serious crime yet it remains the pastime of some determined individuals. Whole clutches of eggs can be taken from some of the UK’s rarest birds with potentially devastating impacts. The eggs are stored in secret collections.
Chief Inspector Lou Hubble, head of the NWCU, said: “As populations of many birds decline, the NWCU are committed to Operation EASTER. We will be working alongside partners and police forces to help to protect nesting sites and would encourage anyone who witnesses suspicious activity to report it to their local police force”.
If you have any information on egg thieves, or those who disturb rare nesting birds without a licence, you should contact your local or nearest police station by dialing 101 and ask to speak to a wildlife crime officer if possible. Nesting will be in full swing by April so please contact the police if you see anyone acting suspiciously around nesting birds.
Information can also be passed in confidence to Crimestoppers via 0800 555 111.
ENDS
Raptor Persecution UK 
EDITOR,
Have you noticed this :
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/16/pioneering-golden-eagle-found-poisoned-in-yellowstone
In the USA, if lead from gun ammunition is found to be a problem then they will be stuck with it. A war that threatens gun ownership has a readily predictable outcome. ANYTHING versus GUNS always results in GUNS win !
What a farce our justice system is !
Egg collecting and theft for sale to the falconry trade are miniscule problems now compared to the endless destruction of raptors on intensive game shoots.
This is why raptor species are largely recovering in the UK away from intensive game shoots.
Intelligence has largely foiled the egg collectors and the remaining problems in the falconry sector are easily solved by proper control measures.
These don’t happen so the problem still occurs at a very low level.
Checks on breeders and breeding stock would soon eliminate it entirely if linked to adequate deterrent.
How many Peregrine breeders [who deal in females] have had their breeding stock and chicks DNA checked in recent years ?
Virtually none !
No other UK raptor species is of value to launder through the system.
Goshawks for instance are produced in such numbers by breeders that the market is swamped.
Tiercel Peregrines are killed by breeders as there is no market for them !
Wouldn’t checks,controls and deterrent sentences be a good idea to control the game shooting industry ?!!!!
Thousands of raptors will continue to be killed or stopped from nesting successfully because of the actions of gamekeepers, the slaves of the shoots, in the coming years until effort / money and political will is brought to bear on the problem.
The hypocracy is incredible.
Keep up the pressure !
Very good news that the police are becoming serious about stamping out egg collecting.
They have been doing it for may years and the combination of this and a significant increase in penalties resulting in a number of collectors going to prison has reduced it by a considerable margin, there now seem relatively few collectors. However the real problem for our scarce and rarer predators is that their populations are severely curtailed in both number and range by endemic persecution associated with game shooting, an area where a significant increase in enforcement is long overdue, as Sennen above implies.
Thankfully egg collecting is all but disappeared, in part due to old boys not being replaced.
The real threat to raptors is game bird shooting and to a lesser degree racing pigeon keepers.
Police priorities and resources should be directed to tackling these areas.
I agree that egg collecting is not the problem that it was; a solution is perhaps tagging an individual for the nesting season and say for 5-10 years requiring that they are “curfewed” to remain close to work and home.