From Lincolnshire Police (11 September 2025)
Officers from Lincolnshire Police Rural Crime Action Team are investigating after a number of dead birds of prey were found in the countryside between Belchford and West Ashby in recent months.
Four birds of prey were previously discovered in the area. As a result of these reports, we carried out a Section 19 search under the Wildlife and Countryside Act today. During this search, a further three dead birds of prey were located.
Also in attendance and assisting with our thanks were members of the RSPB and National Wildlife Crime Unit.
All of the birds have been recovered and will be sent for specialist testing through the Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme (WIIS) to establish the cause of death.
The Officer In Charge, Detective Constable Aaron Flint Lincolnshire Police’s Force Wildlife Crime officer, said:
“The discovery of multiple dead birds of prey in one locality is deeply concerning. We take all reports of suspected wildlife crime seriously, and our investigation is ongoing. Until we receive toxicology results, we cannot confirm the cause of death, but deliberate harm to birds of prey is a criminal offence and will be fully investigated.”
We are appealing for anyone who may have information which could assist our enquiries. Did you see anything suspicious in the area in recent weeks or months? Have you found any other dead wildlife, bait, or unusual items in the countryside locally?
If you can help, please contact Lincolnshire Police on 101, quoting crime number 25000511499, email aaron.flint@lincs.police.uk or alternatively, you can report anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
ENDS
This isn’t the first police investigation into the illegal killing of birds of prey in this area.
In March this year, gamekeeper John Bryant 40, of West Ashby, Horncastle, Lincolnshire was convicted after a trial at Lincolnshire Magistrates’ Court of four offences in relation to an investigation into the illegal poisoning of a Red Kite and two Buzzards in the Belchford area (here).
Bryant was ordered to pay over £7,000 in fines (see here and here) and he also lost an appeal against the Police’s decision to revoke his shotgun and firearms certificates (here).
The discovery of seven more dead raptors in the same area this year is, as Detective Constable Aaron Flint says, ‘deeply concerning’.
Well done DC Aaron Flint and team for another successful multi-agency raid and a timely press release – this level of transparency is rare and I can think of a number of police forces who could learn lessons from this approach.
Raptor Persecution UK 
Please take fingerprints and DNA markers.
I know this can be done, as I asked a professor of forensic science. ( University of Lancashire) following her presentation.
Don’t worry – the investigating team is well aware of the value of using forensic technology and has used it to support the successful prosecution of many gamekeepers.
Thank you for the information
Can anyone think of another “pastime” so deeply embedded in crime that would be allowed to continue without serious controls and means of crime prevention?
It just goes to show: the law does not apply to the rich and powerful, their henchmen and their serfs! Time to end it all!
I can think of pastimes or ‘sports’, as they are called, involving crime: greyhound racing, horse racing, fox hunting. Any level of cruelty and fraud on a massive scale. Money, animals and people don’t mix.
This must surely demonstrate something (again) about the lack of a deterrent effect when the punishments handed down by judges for costly investigations & prosecutions are just the giving out of modest fines that are a weak slap on the wrist – mere curse-worthy annoyances to those shooting businesses that turn over a fair bit of money.
All very valid comments yes the power of money and these people know they will get away with it lawless country.
The correlation between the illegal killing of birds of prey and game bird shooting is so widely established, and the failure of current laws to adequately protect birds of prey from the activities of criminals, that it is scandalous that successive governments have failed to take action to stop these abhorrent crimes. It is very noticeable that every time there is a debate in parliament on this issue, the same group of MPs stand up and deliver speeches promoting the benefits of shooting, announce that raptor persecution is not acceptable but then offer nothing positive to actually stop that criminal persecution. It really shouldn’t be difficult to pass the necessary laws to regulate all aspects of shooting, and introduce licensing schemes to cover all land where shooting takes place. There are laws and regulations covering just about every other aspect of human activity in this country. It is therefore totally absurd that a person can go out into the countryside carrying a lethal firearm and shoot wild game birds without that activity being properly regulated and licensed so that any misdemeanours can be properly dealt with. Shooting estates operating entirely within the law would have nothing to fear from regulations and licensing and I find it incredulous that the shooting industry umbrella organisations are so opposed to the introduction of such licensing and regulations which should help drive out the criminal activity which undermines some of the positive conservation work taking place on some ot the better managed estates.