Tag: buzzard

First vicarious liability prosecution: part 2

wane1Last week we blogged about what we believe to be the first prosecution under the 2011 vicarious liability legislation (see here), relating to poisoning offences that took place on the Glasserton & Physgill Estates in December 2012. Gamekeeper Peter Bell was convicted in June 2013 for those crimes, including the laying out of a poisoned bait that subsequently killed a buzzard, and the possession of three banned poisons (Carbofuran, Strychnine and Alphachloralose) which were found in his tool shed and in his home (see here).

The vicarious liability prosecution was adjourned yesterday and the next hearing is due in November.

Definitely one to watch.

Ross-shire Massacre: seven months on

It’s been seven months since 22 birds of prey (16 red kites and six buzzards) were illegally killed in a mass poisoning incident near Conon Bridge, Ross-shire.

Here’s an imaginary update from the police:

No arrests.

No charges.

No prosecution.

No justice.

Previous posts on the Ross-shire Massacre here.

Buzzard’s injuries suggest it was caught in illegal leg-hold trap

BZ Malton Oct2014A badly-injured buzzard that was found floundering in a field near Malton, North Yorkshire, has had to be euthanised.

A veterinary examination revealed the bird had a badly broken leg and its injuries suggest it had been caught in an illegal leg-hold trap. The injuries were judged to be at least one week old.

News article in Yorkshire Post here.

North Yorkshire has the dubious distinction of being the worst place in the UK for raptor persecution (see here and here). The landscape is dominated by driven grouse moors.

Over 18,500 people have signed a petition to ban driven grouse shooting – if you feel the same way you can sign it here.

Update on first vicarious liability prosecution

wane1Regular blog readers will know that we’ve been interested in the first prosecution of a landowner under the vicarious liability legislation for some time now….in fact ever since the legislation was enacted as part of the WANE Act on 1st January 2012 (see here for background info on what vicarious liability is and to what wildlife crime offences it can be applied).

We believe the first prosecution relates to the employers of gamekeeper and (now ex) SGA member Peter Bell, who was convicted in June 2013 of various poisoning offences that took place in December 2012 on the Glasserton & Physgill Estates. Those offences included laying a poisoned bait that subsequently killed a buzzard, and the possession of three banned poisons (Carbofuran, Strychnine and Alphachloralose) found in his tool shed and in his home (see here).

We’ve been asking whether there would be a vicarious liability prosecution against Bell’s employers for over a year, but each time we asked, various obstructions were put in our way (see here and here). However, in May this year, Environment Minister Paul Wheelhouse announced during a parliamentary debate on raptor persecution that vicarious liability proceedings had commenced (see here).

Since May, we’ve heard nothing at all, which we find surprising given the high level of public interest in how this new (well, nearly 3-year-old now)  and significant legislation will work.

We’ve been doing quite a lot of research since then and have finally discovered that this case is indeed in progress, and the next court hearing will take place next week. It won’t be an evidence-led hearing – it’s a special hearing that is designed to hear legal arguments. What happens next will depend on what the Sheriff decides at the end of the hearing. We’ll keep you posted.

We’ve also heard that there is a second vicarious liability case underway…..more on that in due course.

Case against gamekeeper George Mutch: part 10

Criminal proceedings continued yesterday with hearing #11 in the case against Scottish gamekeeper George Mutch of Kildrummy Estate, Aberdeenshire.

Mutch is pleading not guilty to a suite of charges relating to offences that are alleged to have taken place more than two years ago in August 2012. We believe these relate to the illegal use of a trap for the purpose of taking or killing wild birds (goshawk and buzzard) and to the killing, injuring or taking of wild birds (goshawk and buzzard).

Yesterday’s hearing was another intermediate diet and guess what? Yet another intermediate diet has been set for 21st October 2014.

Here’s the chronology of events so far:

August 2012: alleged offences took place

11th September 2013: case opened

2nd October 2013: hearing #2

30th October 2013: hearing #3

27th November 2013: hearing #4

17th December 2013: hearing #5

17th March 2014: hearing #6

2nd April 2014: hearing #7

16th April 2014: hearing #8

13th May 2014: hearing #9

24th September 2014: hearing #10

15th October 2014: hearing #11

21st October 2014: hearing #12 due

Case against Scottish gamekeeper William Dick: part 2

Criminal proceedings in the case against Scottish gamekeeper William Dick continued yesterday at Dumfries Sheriff Court.

It has been reported that Mr Dick, 24, is accused of bludgeoning and then repeatedly stamping on a buzzard. The alleged offences are reported to have taken place in Sunnybrae, Dumfries, in April 2014. Mr Dick denied the allegations at an earlier hearing (see here).

Yesterday the case was continued for a notional diet on 21st October 2014. A notional diet is basically a hearing for legal arguments. What happens next is subject to what the Sheriff decides at the notional diet; a trial may or may not follow at a later date.

Rural Payments Agency ‘to consider action’ against Stody Estate

Five days ago we blogged about the millions of pounds of farming subsidies that have been given to Stody Estate over the last few years (see here). For new readers, Stody Estate was in the news last week because their (now former) gamekeeper, Allen Lambert, was found guilty of poisoning 11 raptors (10 buzzards and 1 sparrowhawk) on the estate, as well as other related poison offences (see here and here).

While we wait to find out Lambert’s sentence (due 6th November), we encouraged blog readers to contact the Rural Payments Agency (RPA) to ask whether any action would be taken against Stody Estate as the conviction implied they were in breach of the terms and conditions of their subsidy-fest.

Well done to all those who took the time to contact the RPA – we know from our site stats that at least 40 of you did.

To the RPA’s credit, they have responded very quickly. We’ve seen a number of the responses – some of which have already been shared as comments on this blog, and others which were shared with us privately via email.

From the RPA responses that we’ve seen, it looks as though the RPA is going to take a closer look at Stody Estate. The most common response has been as follows:

“I can confirm that RPA will consider what action can be taken under the cross compliance rules in respect of the offences for which the gamekeeper was convicted“.

However, there was one RPA response that didn’t sound quite as promising:

“RPA can confirm there is no investigation ongoing“.

Hmm.

As some commentators have already suggested, it’s worth keeping hold of the reference number given at the end of each of the RPA responses so that we can follow up in a few months time to see what action, if any, the RPA has taken.

Lambert 9 bz

Cairngorms National Park Authority wants ‘action’ against raptor persecution

Duncan BrydenThe Convenor of the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CPNA), Duncan Bryden, has written to the Environment Minister to tell him that continued incidents of raptor persecution and ‘disappearing birds’ in the eastern side of the Cairngorms National Park “threatens to undermine the reputation of the National Park as a high quality wildlife tourism destination“.

He has asked for the Minister to attend a meeting of stakeholders in the Eastern Cairngorms (including RSPB Scotland and, er, Scottish Land & Estates) to discuss ways to address this on-going issue.

That’ll be interesting, seeing as though SLE continue to deny the extent of the problem (e.g. see here) and only last year gave membership to the ranks of SLE to the North Glenbuchat Estate – a grouse moor in the National Park that has been at the centre of wildlife crime investigations for years, most recently following the ‘disappearance’ in April of the first fledged white-tailed eagle in eastern Scotland for 200 years – it’s final signal reportedly came from North Glenbuchat estate (see here). The eagle is presumed dead but it’s body has not been recovered, just like the bodies of three other young satellite tagged eagles that ‘disappeared’ in the area in recent years. The body of a fifth eagle was found on North Glenbuchat Estate in 2011 – it had been poisoned with Carbofuran. As had a poisoned buzzard, also found in 2011, as well as a poisoned bait. A dead short-eared owl was also found in 2011 – it had been shot and stuffed under a rock.

Good luck to the CNPA in trying to oust the raptor-killing criminals from the National Park and well done Duncan Bryden for taking a stand.

Download: CNPA letter to Paul Wheelhouse May2014

Download: Paul Wheelhouse response to CNPA

CNP map

 

The Stody Millions

Following the conviction of (former) Stody Estate gamekeeper Allen Lambert for the mass poisoning of birds of prey (see here and here), has anyone seen any sort of public statement or apology from the Stody Estate, Norfolk? We haven’t…

Lambert 9 bz

We noted with interest a comment from one of our readers (Rob – see here) who suggested asking the Rural Payments Agency whether they’ll be imposing a fine on Stody Estate Ltd’s Single Farm Payment due to a breach in Statutory Management Requirement 1. (See here for details of the cross compliance regulations).

We thought we’d have a look to see how many agricultural subsidies Stody Estate Ltd has received over the years (i.e. money given to them from our taxes to help them farm on the condition they look after the wildlife and wildlife habitats under their management). Here’s what we found a couple of days ago on the excellent Farm Subsidy website (although bizarrely, when we looked today we couldn’t find it) -:

2012. Direct payments under European Agricultural Guarantee Fund: 457,570 EUR

2012. European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: 274,710 EUR

2011. European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: 498,617 EUR

2011. Direct payments under European Agricultural Guarantee Fund: 427,449 EUR

2010. Direct payments under European Agricultural Guarantee Fund: 444,050 EUR

2010. European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development: 190,052 EUR

2009. Rural development programmes: 113, 382 EUR

2009. Sugar Restructuring Fund: 58,102 EUR

2009. SPS (Single Payment Scheme): 345,027 EUR

2009. Additional amounts of aid: 139 EUR

2009. Irregularities EAGF – Assigned revenue: -842 EUR

2008. SPS (Single Payment Scheme): 366,524 EUR

2008. Rural development programmes: 135, 922 EUR

2008. Aid for energy crops: 3,630 EUR

2008. Additional amounts of aid: 232 EUR

2007. SPS (Single Payment Scheme): 356,453 EUR

2007. Aid for energy crops: 3,862 EUR

2007. Additional amounts of aid: 190 EUR

2007. Irregularities EAGF – Assigned revenue: -49 EUR

2006. SPS (Single Payment Scheme): 266,781 EUR

2006. Aid for energy crops: 1,053 EUR

2005. Area aid for producers of cereals, oilseeds, proteins, grass sileage and set aside: 254,699 EUR

2004. Aids for producers of cereals: 168,223 EUR

2004. Set-aside: 66,370 EUR

2004. Agri-environment-Farmer system (2000-2006): 39,030 EUR

2004. Aids for producers of peas, field beans & sweet lupins: 31,836 EUR

2004. Aids for producers of soya beans, rape seed & sunflower seed: 16,821 EUR

2004. Aids for producers of non-textile flax seed and hemp grown for fibre: 7,398 EUR

2004. Forestry – New system (2000-2006): 303 EUR

2004. Forestry – Former system (2000-2006): 294 EUR

2004. Other expenditure related to direct payments for arable crops: -30,722 EUR

In total, this amounts to 4,538,719 EUR (£3,549,122.60 GBP).

However, we also found something else on the Farm Subsidy website (which again, bizarrely, we cannot seem to find today). Another recipient was also listed whose address was given as Stody Estate Office, Melton Constable, NR24 2ER: a company by the name of GC & FC Knight Ltd. According to this website, GC & FC Knight Ltd was the former name of Stody Estate Ltd – it was changed to Stody Estate Ltd on 17th December 2002.

So how come, on the Farm subsidy website, GC & FC Knight Ltd are listed as having received 1,264,590 EUR (£991,049,56 GBP) between 2000-2004, if the company changed it’s name to Stody Estate Ltd in 2002?

All very strange. Unless of course the subsidies are paid two years in arrears? If anyone can enlighten us, please do!

Either way, it’s clear from these records that the people farming on Stody Estate have received millions in agricultural subsidies. In light of their gamekeeper’s conviction for mass poisoning using banned pesticides, it would be very interesting to find out if the Rural Payments Agency will be considering a substantial fine for breach of the subsidies regulations. Surely they have to show that wildlife crime doesn’t pay? You can ask them here: csc@rpa.gsi.gov.uk

UPDATE: 10 October 2014 – the Rural Payments agency responds here

Police investigate death of six buzzards in Aberdeenshire

Breaking news….

Police are investigating the death of six buzzards found in a field near Fordoun, Aberdeenshire, yesterday afternoon.

No other details available.

We’ll have to await the cause of death but this does look v suspicious.

News article here

UPDATE: 9 October 2014: It turns out the police can’t tell the difference between raptors & chickens. Seriously, we’re not making this up – see here.