An Osprey has been euthanised after being found with shotgun injuries in Washington, Tyne & Wear on 26th May 2023.
An article on the Planet Radio Metro website (here) states the Osprey ‘was spotted bleeding and lying on his back by a worker at the Crowther Industrial Estate in Washington, Tyne and Wear, after he was thought to have crash landed at the location‘.
However, the article goes on to claim that the Osprey was ‘shot three times with an airgun‘, but if you look at the x-ray it’s pretty clear that the Osprey has been hit by shotgun pellets (at least four of them – I’ve circled them on the x-ray image below), and not by airgun pellets, which have a distinctively different shape.
The article also claims the Osprey had ‘a ruptured right eye, grazes to its body and a fractured left wing‘. I can’t see the left wing fracture on this particular x-ray but the image of the bird’s left ‘wrist’ area is quite distorted so it’s difficult to tell.
It’s reported that the vets who assessed the injured Osprey considered the best course of action was to euthanise it to prevent further suffering.
The RSPCA is apparently investigating and is ‘asking businesses on the estate to check their CCTV for potential information about the person responsible‘, although obviously the shooting could have taken place elsewhere and the bird could have flown some distance before crash-landing on the estate. However, if it did have a fractured wing then it’s unlikely to have been able to fly very far from the location where it was shot. But perhaps the fracture occurred when it crash landed.
This case was also covered by the BBC News website (here) but that seems to be just a condensed version of the Mercury article and repeats the claim that an airgun was used in the shooting.
The shooting of Ospreys in the UK is relatively rare these days – unlike the targeted shooting of Buzzards, Red Kites, Hen Harriers, Goshawks etc which is still so routine, especially on land managed for gamebird shooting. The last Osprey shooting that I recall in the UK was in 2010 (here).
That’s not to say that Ospreys aren’t still the victims of illegal persecution, but mostly it’s now related to nest disturbance and egg collecting (e.g. see here and here), although there was a case in Derbyshire a few years ago where an Osprey was found with two broken legs and injuries consistent with having been caught in an illegally-set spring trap (here), and an Osprey’s nest was felled with a chainsaw in North Wales two years ago just after the first egg had been laid (here).
Thankfully, these days Ospreys are usually in the headlines for all the right reasons following a series of conservation translocation projects in England (e.g. here), with nest cameras providing an opportunity for the public to follow breeding attempts online (here), Osprey visitor centres attracting thousands of visitors each year (e.g. here) and now even ‘Osprey Cruises’ to watch foraging Ospreys from boats, which sell out so quickly that more trips have now been scheduled (e.g. here). It’s clear that this particular bird of prey seems to attract a great deal of public affection.
If anyone has any information about the shot Osprey found in Tyne & Wear please contact the RSPCA but I’d also encourage you to contact the RSPB’s Investigations Team who can provide specialist and expert assistance to the investigation.
UPDATE 09.30hrs: A vet has been in touch (thank you!) with the following comment: ‘My very rusty veterinary eyes (20 years out of practice!) can see a fracture on the R proximal humerus – also the head of the humerus appears not to be in the shallow socket. Maybe the vet got the L and R markers the wrong way around. Shame there is not a better x-ray after euthanasia. I might be wrong’.
Raptor Persecution UK 
Very sad blog Ruth but thank you for posting about it and yes a osprey for me is very special as of course is every bird and creature
The intelligence of these people who target birds of prey is obviously not very high so the Osprey was probably mistaken for a poor Buzzard and that’s why it was targeted.
Thursdays are my usual day volunteering at the DYFI Osprey Centre here in Wales and to read this was always going to be horrible and infuriating but seems even more so having spent yesterday watching”our” family of Ospreys. There are clearly some completely moronic Fuckwits out there with shotguns. Time there weren’t other than that I am rare for me lost for words to express my anger at this wholely pointless cruelty and crime.
I live a couple of miles from this area and nobody will be using a shotgun here. We do or did see Ospreys at Derwent Reservoir and the local gamekeepers hate them because they attract visitors. Red kites are often found dead, injured or go missing here. The prevailing winds could possibly carry an injured bird quite a distance which could then fall and damage a wing.
A quick look at the area on google maps will show a local fishery but I’m not sure if anybody there would harm an osprey or even if an osprey would use the ponds. I would guess the fishery is within a mile of Crowther.
The only other shooting easate in the area and reasonably close to Crowther no longer seems to hold shoots as pheasant corpses are no longer scattered all over the A1 after release. They do have a pond which was used for duck shoots but I don’t know if they do those now either.
What do people get out of shooting these majestic bird’s, The osprey was probably returning to it’s nesting grounds after traveling over a thousand miles only to be shot by a inbred moron, This has really upset me knowing there is still Barbaric scum out there killing for fun, I’m very angry with this person as the north east people are wildlife lovers, I hope the RSPCB find this scumbag and take them to court.
I think 2 issues are raised by this incident.
Tighter gun legislation, including air weapons with the presumption that a person will not be allowed to posses a firearm unless they can prove an absolute necessity to own one and have completed necessary, and I will add expensive training.
Much stiffer penalties for wildlife crime and the killing of protected species- a bird like an Osprey, Hen Harrier or Golden Eagle should carry the minimum of a 6 months custodial sentence, and a lifetime ban on possessing a firearm, for the first offence, and then much more severe punishments for repeat offenders, including lengthy jail terms.
I believe the vast majority of good people in the UK want to protect the nations wildlife. Sadly there are a group of morons who think it is acceptable illegally persecute wildlife including raptors.
These people are at odds with a society which is placing an ever increasing value on nature.
With nature in such a massive decline, it is vital that what is left is afforded even greater protection.
The law needs to catch up and reflect this, and there needs to be some deterrence in the law, so that criminals genuinely fear the consequences of getting caught and punished.
The ONLY way of dealing with this is by totally removing all grouse and pheasant shoots and by removing i mean completely devoid them of Grouse & pheasant that way the guilty Gamekeepers will have no reason to have guns traps or poisons hence no gun licenses need be issued to guilty people
[Ed: I think it’s highly unlikely that this incident is related to gamebird shooting. Not impossible, but given the location & the fact that Ospreys are fish specialists so don’t generally cause concern for gamebird shoots, I doubt it very much]
I think the shooting of a osprey is not to do with grouse / pheasants shoots , they do not pose a threat as only eat fish , ospreys have been shot in the past but usually it is fish farm intrusions the cause
” and by removing i mean completely devoid them of Grouse ”
You really hate Grouse, don’t you? Why?
How you going to do that as Red Grouse is a native not artificially reared bird?
It is time to ban the casual ownership of shotguns and air weapons. There is no justification for their continued availability.
Ospreys may not pose a threat to grouse or pheasant shoots but the people who work on these shoots aren’t going to distinguish between an Osprey and a Buzzard or probably any other raptor so if it flies on or near their land then there mentality is to shoot it
I think you’re right.
If you`re a criminal you can`t get a gun license. If you get a gun license then you can become a criminal and as long as you`re careful to cover your tracks, you can carry on committing crimes. You`d have protection from other fire-arm-licensed criminals. Together you can all cooperate in secrecy and carry on committing crimes. Slim to no chance of getting caught.
This is how it is. A 10yr old can work this out. There is a criminal high up in office that allows this situation to be so
“If you`re a criminal you can`t get a gun license.”
Not strictly true.
In the only survey I have come across, 39% of firearm certificate holders held at least one conviction.
See https://www.gov.uk/guidance/firearms-licensing-police-guidance#:~:text=Changes%20to%20the%20Firearms%20Act%201968&text=The%20prohibition%20applies%20to%20anyone,3%20months%20and%203%20years.
https://unlock.org.uk/advice/firearms-licence-holder/
I think I can see a leg fracture also, A short way above the pellet in the same leg; only slightly displaced, so I could be wrong.