A buzzard has been found shot in Colchester, Essex. It is still alive and is undergoing treatment for its injuries.
It was found on 11th January 2023 near to Hardy’s Green and Heckford Bridge. Essex Police’s Rural, Wildlife & Heritage Crime Team has put out an appeal for information on Twitter:
This isn’t the first raptor persecution crime in Essex and certainly won’t be the last. Previous crimes against birds of prey in this county in recent years include the shooting of red kites (e.g. here and here), the shooting of a hobby (here) and the shooting of buzzards (e.g. here, here and here).
If anyone has any information about this latest shot buzzard, please contact Essex Police on Tel: 101, quoting incident reference # 42/13298/23.
UPDATE 31st January 2023: Shot buzzard in Essex succumbs to its injuries (here)
Raptor Persecution UK 
Timely report by Essex Police, with a nice tenor. (But no request to the shooting community… even though the injured bird was found rather near a ‘Sporting Estate’ offering 200 bird-driven shoot days.)
And so it continues….the illegal shooting of birds of prey, which justifies every reason why Suffolk Constabulary purposefully reached out to the shooting community to help them catch the criminals who lurk within.
Of course blind and stupid cretins find it difficult to draw the association that if a bird of prey is shot, then it is most probable that the person responsible for that shooting is someone who owns a firearm and has a history of shooting.
It is good to see several police forces recently putting out appeals earlier than they used to, lets hope that continues. No doubt from pressure in part from this blog.
Sadly, the RSPB believes there has not been a county in the UK untouched by raptor persecution between 2007 -2020. The despicable discovery of the five Goshawks last week in Suffolk and now this Buzzard in Essex goes along with that belief. Also my belief, that persecution of our birds of prey is rife and not just confined on or around gamebird shooting estates, although without doubt it is exponentially higher in those areas.
Ironically I am talking at Essex Birdwatching Society in 10 days, link here if you would like tickets. https://www.ebws.org.uk/events/indoor-meetings
“I am talking at Essex Birdwatching Society”
That’s an exciting project!