A man has been charged with killing two wild birds with an air rifle after police received reports of someone seen dumping a Tawny Owl and a Woodpigeon in a wheelie bin in Colne, Lancashire, in March 2024.
Joe Morris, 28, of White Grove, Colne, Lancashire has been charged with killing a non-Schedule 1 bird, causing unnecessary suffering to a protected animal and possessing an air weapon in a public place.
He is due to appear before Blackburn Magistrates on 22 August 2024.
UPDATE 29 April 2025: Lancashire man convicted of shooting Tawny Owl in local park (here)
Raptor Persecution UK 
Tawny owls were common where I live… but in my lifetime they have been completely extirpated:-( We would hear them at night, and see them during the day, being harassed by Blackbirds. But not in the last thirty years…
The driving reason for that has been the loss of habitat: every single small wood has long been built over.
My comment is a little basic and not very constructive but….Hard to believe any human being from out of the gutter is allowed the privilege to breath the same air as everyone else.
I love owls, Barn owl is favourite, but Tawny a close second. I used to live neara A bird of prey centre in Hampshire. They also took in disabled birds, and were known as an Education centre.
I used to go there regularly, and I can’t for the life of me understand why folk feel it is their right to slaughter them, just in the name of sport.