Officers from Norfolk Police’s rural crime team are appealing for information after a laser was shone directly into a peregrine’s nest box disturbing the breeding female.
The incident was caught on cctv by the Cromer Peregrine Project although no date has been provided.
[Photos by Cromer Peregrine Project, via Norfolk Police]
Writing on X yesterday, Norfolk Police said this:
We are currently investigating a report of the @CromerPeregrine Peregrines having a laser shone straight into the box disturbing the female making her leave the nest for an extended period of time leaving the chick. This is a criminal offence to disturb any nesting bird.
We are appealing for any information in regards to this matter. These birds are on Schedule 1 of the Wildlife Countryside Act and anyone found disturbing these birds could be subject to significant consequences. #CromerPeregrines #BirdsofPrey #OPRandall
If anyone has any information please contact Norfolk Constabulary on Tel 101.
UPDATE 4th June 2024: Man hands himself in over laser disturbance at Peregrine site in Norfolk (here)
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What is the matter with these people?! They seem to spend their whole lives and whatever cognitive capacity they have, thinking of ways to harm living creatures… It’s baffling and disturbing in equal measure.
Interesting that it’s a green laser. Most lasers for pointers, building levels etc. are red. Laser gun sights are commonly offered in green or red. It is possible (but clearly conjecture at this stage) that this laser was attached to an air rifle and that the person aiming it was intending to shoot the bird… I hope police consider this in their investigation.
The church is in the town, close to the seafront, a highly built up area, volunteers man the watchpoint almost daily. The nest box cannot be seen from the ground unless you are at a considerable distance away. I think anyone would have to be at considerable height to shine a laser into the box. As you have said, oldlongdog, baffling and disturbing.
“Interesting that it’s a green laser. Most lasers for pointers, building levels etc. are red. “
Not true. Both red and green lasers are cheap to build, and red is commonly used indoors. But green lasers are brighter to the human eye and are, therefore, commonly used outdoors.
Note that a Peregrine eye is structurally different to a human eye (higher cone density, two fovea) and is almost certainly more susceptible to severe damage from laser light in the green spectrum:-(
there are a lot of green lasers in construction nowadays as they are easy to see during daylight, green lasers are easily available on internet
I get that green lasers are more common than they used to be but it would be very difficult to shine a building-site laser accurately into a small box, high up on a tower, from the kind of distance necessary to overcome the elevation differentials, without being a long way away. And that would require some kind of co-mounted telescope.
We can’t say for sure but that’s most likely to be a rifle sight. Also, who, other than pigeon fanciers, has it in for Peregrines? The shooting industry. And there are lots of shoots near this site, including a massive pheasant breeding operation.
“We can’t say for sure but that’s most likely to be a rifle sight.”
I agree that is a likely scenario, and red/green rail mounted integrated lasers are available very cheaply (for air rifles, for example), but a hand held laser and a mounted pair of bins or a scope would also work at a distance. I wouldn’t rule out hand held laser and naked eye, either, since the CCTV images shown were captured at dusk, and the distance is impossible to judge (very wide angle lens) without additional information and knowledge of the area.
The female chick from this nest was put to sleep due to being unwell, so this idiot could have caused a disaster here.
Interesting comment about colour of laser being green poss. because for an air rifle.
Any bird breeders in the area. Maybe noticed camera at last moment and caused he/she to go away.
i would have thought that any locals would have known about the cameras
Unfortunately there was no reason for the perpetrator to be worried about the camera. It is impossible to see anything (anyone) behind the bright light of the laser.
“Unfortunately there was no reason for the perpetrator to be worried about the camera. It is impossible to see anything (anyone) behind the bright light of the laser.”
If you use a laser, a camera pointing along the line of sight is not the only thing you need to worry about (the camera is only blinded by a direct hit, any off-centre ‘shot’ will be visible down to the point of origin).
Anybody else looking from any direction could also be able to see the point of origin of a laser beam, especially with a green laser. It all depends if anyone actually noticed.
i can’t believe I’m reading this like old long dog said WTF are these people’s brains hearts made of can you even put them into the category of human.