Category: Persecution Incidents in England

Peregrine shot, barn owl chick stolen, hen harriers remembered

It’s been quite a day. The so-called ‘Glorious 12th’ has been taken back by the conservationists and re-named Hen Harrier Day, in an inspired move by Alan Tilmouth (read his blog entry here).

Although he only came up with the idea yesterday, Twitter has been alive today with hundreds of people using the #henharrier tag to celebrate these spectacular birds and to express their anger at the virtual extermination of the species on grouse moors across England. Unsurprisingly, the game-shooting organisations were conspicuously absent.

Mark Avery also came up with a plan to help hen harriers. He’s called it BanGS – see here.

Meanwhile, news came through that police in Bolton are appealing for information after an injured and distressed peregrine was found by the side of a road. It had been shot. Full details here.

Elsewhere, the Suffolk Wildlife Trust is appealing for information after a barn owl chick was stolen from the Carlton Marshes Nature Reserve last night. Information here.

In other news, we’ve been having a look at some VERY interesting literature – a copy of the Leadhills Estate gamebook (don’t ask how we got hold of it!!) – which very helpfully documents annual counts of killed ‘vermin’ over a considerable number of decades. ‘Vermin’ in Leadhills-speak includes hawks, badgers, otters, cats and ravens amongst others. It’s fascinating. We’ll be writing more on this in due course…

Leadhills game book vermin lists

Hen harriers in England are fucked

RSPB press release here

If you’re offended by the title of this post then you really shouldn’t be here. Try getting offended by the news that there wasn’t one single successful hen harrier nest in England this year. Now THAT’s worthy of your outrage.

Here is some more media coverage from this morning:

BBC News here and good interview with RSPB’s Jeff Knott on BBC here.

The Guardian here, where the Moorland Association blames ‘the long cold winter’ for breeding failure!

The RSPB’s Skydancer blog here, where a fieldworker tells the story of one of the failed nests.

And then there’s a classic statement from the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation here, who accuse the RSPB of timing their press release to coincide with the start of the grouse-shooting season. Er, did they miss all the propaganda put out by the game-shooting industry this week about how good grouse-shooting is for conservation?? See here. They also suggest that hen harriers are doing well in the grouse moor stronghold [stranglehold] of Scotland! 505 territorial pairs in a country that has the capacity to support 1467-1790 pairs isn’t a very good example to show how great grouse moors are for hen harriers, especially when HHs are absent from large swathes of grouse moor in the Eastern Highlands and Southern Uplands!

Police appeal after 2 buzzards found poisoned in April

buzzardpoisonedchittlehamptonThe police are appealing for information after the discovery of two poisoned buzzards in Chittlehampton, North Devon. The birds were found in April.

More information here, but very little detail given.

Kestrel shot in North Yorkshire

North Yorkshire Police are appealing for information after a kestrel was found shot on Monday. The bird was found near the High Batts Nature Reserve at North Stainley, near Ripon, its wing shattered by shotgun pellets. It had to be euthanised by a vet.

North Yorkshire is one of the worst areas for raptor persecution crimes in the UK.

We’re impressed that North Yorkshire Police Wildlife Crime Officer PC Gareth Jones got the appeal for information out, in the media and on the North Yorks Police website, within 4 days of the bird being found. Really well done to him.

Anyone with information about this crime is urged to contact PC Gareth Jones – his details available in the following links:

Press release on North Yorks Police website here

Article in the Northern Echo here

Photo of kestrel hovering by davidchapman.org.uk

Buzzard shot in the head: police appeal for info

buzzard 3Police in Greater Manchester are appealing for information after a dead buzzard was found in a field in Bolton. X-rays revealed the bird had been shot in the head.

The bird was found by a dog walker on 25th June in a field close to Salford Road and St. Helens Road.

PC Randolph Lyle makes some frankly bizarre statements in the police appeal, e.g. “shooting and killing one [buzzard] can have a devastating impact on their habitat and biodiversity“. Eh? He also seems quite keen to put across an argument that this buzzard wasn’t killed by someone from the game-shooting industry…

Nevertheless, Greater Manchester Police should be credited for at least putting out a press statement, so well done to them for that.

Anyone with information can call GMP on 0161-856-5578 or can make an anonymous call to Crimestoppers on 0800-555-111.

Greater Manchester Police press release here.

Industry leaders respond to buzzard-killing gamekeeper case

The public’s reaction to what gamekeeper Colin Burne did to those trapped buzzards (see here) has been widespread disgust and condemnation. People have been commenting all over the social media networks, with many angered that Burne’s punishment was so pathetic (a 12 month suspended sentence – in other words, keep your nose clean for the next year and we’ll say no more about it).

We thought it’d be interesting to read what the game-shooting industry’s leaders had to say about the case. At the very least, we would expect outright condemnation of Burne’s activities and a warning to others that criminal activites will not be tolerated by the industry. We visited a few websites this morning and this is what we found:

National Gamekeepers Organisation: silence

British Association for Conservation & Shooting (BASC): silence

Countryside Alliance: silence

Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust: silence

Now, compare these responses with that of the National Association of Regional Game Councils in Ireland, who reacted to the illegal shooting of a buzzard in January this year. Here’s what NARGC Director Des Crofton had to say:

“The shooting of birds of prey, who are all protected, can only be condemned in the strongest possible terms. The person who shot this bird is not fit to have a firearm. I would urge the authorities, if the person is identified, that they are prosecuted, have their firearm licence revoked and never allowed have one again. This is inexcusable. If I ever found one of my members was responsible for something like this, he would be out of the association so fast his feet wouldn’t touch the ground“.

We blogged about Des Crofton’s statement at the time (see here), and mentioned that an equally strong leadership approach was required from industry leaders in England and Scotland. Sadly, it seems they’re not up to the job.

It would also be good to see a statement from the estate that leased the land to the Cliburn Shoot syndicate, stating that the lease had been withdrawn.

Burne dumping BZ in bucket

Buzzard-killing video – WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT

Further to our earlier story (here) about gamekeeper Colin Burne, convicted for trapping buzzards and clubbing them to death, the RSPB has now posted the unedited version of their covert video surveillance.

WARNING – GRAPHIC CONTENT. Video can be viewed here.

Burne clubbing buzzard to death

Buzzards trapped & beaten to death with a stick: gamekeeper convicted

A gamekeeper from Cumbria has today been convicted for killing buzzards by trapping them in a crow cage trap and then battering them to death with a wooden stick.

Gamekeeper Colin Burne, 64, of Winters Park, Penrith, was caught on camera bashing the buzzards’ skulls in with a wooden stake after the RSPB Investigations Team installed a covert video at the trap in February this year. The trap was being operated on land managed by a private shooting syndicate in Whinfell Forest, near Penrith, Cumbria. A further search of the area revealed ‘many other’ dead buzzards, to which Burne admitted killing five.

Burne admitted three charges at Carlisle Magistrates Court today. He received a 70-day jail sentence for each charge, suspended for 12 months due to his ill health.

RSPB press release here.

The film footage will be published shortly.

We’ll be looking for a statement from the National Gamekeepers Organisation to confirm that if Burne was one of their members, he has now been expelled for life.

The team involved with this investigation and conviction (RSPB Investigations, Cumbria Constabulary and the Crown Prosecution Service) deserve huge credit, especially given the short time span between crime and conviction (less than five months). It seems pretty clear from the evidence that this gamekeeper had been routinely killing buzzards for some time. Will his conviction stop him? It’s hard to say – a suspended sentence is hardly a strong deterrent – but perhaps his ill health will put an end to his criminal career. Certainly the Whinfell Forest shoot will be under closer scrutiny from now on, whether Burne is still involved or not.

So, here we have yet another criminal gamekeeper convicted on the basis of covert video surveillance in England. The CPS and the Magistrates Court don’t seem to have had a problem accepting the video footage as admissible evidence. Had Burne been operating just a few miles further north, this case would not have even reached court, thanks to the Crown Office’s outright refusal to accept this type of evidence. We are greatly looking forward to Paul Wheelhouse’s response to our question from the other day – has the Lord Advocate told the Crown Prosecutors in Scotland to start accepting covert surveillance footage as admissible evidence?

UPDATE 9th July 11.30am: Further details about what Colin Burne did have been published in the News and Star newspaper (here), including an edited version of the video footage showing Burne entering the crow cage trap armed with a fence post to club the buzzards to death. This bastard, who was part of the Cliburn Shoot, knew exactly what he was doing. When initially questioned by the police he denied harming the buzzards – it was only after the video footage was shown to him that he admitted his guilt.

Photo: PC Helen Felton and RSPB Investigator Bob Elliot with two of the buzzards that Burne had clubbed to death, found hidden under a brash pile close to the trap.

PC Helen Felton and RSPB with two killed buzzards_a

UPDATE 9th July 2013 8.15pm: The unedited version of the video has now been posted by the RSPB. View it here. WARNING – IT’S GRAPHIC.

Dead buzzard found with beak bound closed with twine

buzzard beak boundDerbyshire Constabulary are appealing for information about a dead buzzard that was found with twine forced through a hole in its beak to bind it shut.

The bird was found by a member of the public on April 11th on land near Turnditch. Police wildlife crime officers are working with the RSPB to investigate the circumstances of this bird’s death.

Wildlife Crime Officer PC Emerson Buckingham said: “This bird was most probably alive when it was attacked and may have starved to death as it would have been unable to eat or drink with its beak bound“.

Interestingly, Turnditch is just down the road from Idriedgehay and Kirk Ireton where a total of six buzzards were found poisoned in 2010 (see here).

Anyone with information is asked to contact PC Buckingham on (Tel: 101) or the RSPB (Tel: 0845 466 3636).

Well done to Derbyshire Constabulary for the publicity on this disgraceful crime. Press release here.

Thanks to @HowardJones88 for passing on the link to us.

Shot buzzard in North Yorks – 4th in 4 months

Buzzard shot Farndale 2013A press release in the Northern Echo reports that a buzzard has been found shot just north of Kirbymoorside in Farndale, North Yorkshire. Gunshot was found in the bird’s wing and bone fragments were sticking out of the injury. It is believed to have been in that state for ten days before it was picked up. Unfortunately its injuries were so severe it had to be euthanised.

The press release doesn’t provide any details about when this buzzard was discovered, other than sometime in the last four months, although we know from another source that it was 14 April.

Interestingly, PC Stewart Ashton of North Yorks Police is quoted as saying: “This is the fourth buzzard to have been shot in Ryedale over the past four months“.

So where was the publicity for the other three shot buzzards? We don’t recall seeing any media about those incidents. A quick look on the North Yorks Police website shows their last reported shot buzzard dated 4 November 2011 (see here).

It’s not the first time we’ve wondered about delayed or vague press releases from this police force, for example, see here, here and here.

At least the press release about this latest shot buzzard is timely. The RSPB has also put up a £1,000 reward for information leading to a conviction. Article in the Northern Echo here.