Blogs

I've had to take dead birds to the vets many times before, but this time I had a real sinking feeling. Minutes after handing over the limp corpse I was staring at an X-ray, which confirmed my worst fears.

I could see 11 pieces of gunshot in what had been a magnificent, female peregrine. She had been slaughtered – most probably on her nest. The inscribed metal ring on her leg gave a tiny insight into her life. She hatched seven years ago in Shropshire and, at the time of her death, was in her prime. Quite probably, she had chicks that depended on her and will now starve.

I felt sick and disgusted. How can people stoop so low?

This has been one of the worst years I can remember. In the last few weeks, barely a day has gone by without us getting a call about peregrine persecution and other crimes against birds of prey. It's shocking that in the 21st century, these fabulous birds are still routinely shot, trapped and poisoned.

Only a few days ago, one of my colleagues in Scotland went to investigate a dead golden eagle found in Argyll. The bird has gone off for analysis but the police suspect that it was illegally poisoned, using a bait laced with a lethal pesticide.

I'm desperate for the peregrine and golden eagle deaths not to be mere grisly statistics.

With your support, we can demonstrate to government that we will not tolerate these crimes and put an end to them.

Please sign the RSPB's birds of prey pledge now and help us stop the killing.

Thank you so much.

PS For more about peregrine persecution, including a photo of the dead female, see here.

At the Hayle Estuary RSPB reserve, Cornwall, we have had a constant battle with a few irresponsible individuals whose dogs are allowed, encouraged even, to run around the Nature Reserve chasing birds.  The owners are not oblivious to the disturbance their pets are causing and we have signs dotted around the perimeter asking people and their dogs not to venture out onto the estuary as this SCARES THE BIRDS AWAY. Usually our requests to call the dogs back are met with stark indifference or even, on one occasion, the owner calling his dog back only to put on a lead and then letting it go once more with a lead attached  - “He’s on a lead isn’t he?”!

After this week’s ruling, things just might change around here. 

On January 09 2008, we received a call from a Hayle resident describing an horrific attack by one of three dogs on a mute swan at Copperhouse Creek, a branch of our Hayle Estuary reserve.  The caller was clearly distressed by the incident and told of the disturbance the three dogs had caused generally before finally catching the swan and mutilating it.  By the time the police arrived the bird had been so badly mauled it had to be taken to a vet and sadly be put down. PC Paul Freestone a Wildlife Crime Officer (WCO) for Devon and Cornwall Police was instrumental at this stage in initiating the investigation and gathering evidence, which later proved vital in supporting the Natural England case.

Click here to see a graphic image of the mutilated swan - warning this may offend.

Copperhouse Creek is part of the Hayle Estuary SSSI and key to Natural England winning the case against the dog-owner, Mr Marlon Adams, was the fact that ‘wintering birds’ are a 'feature' of the SSSI and mute swans are included in the ‘wintering bird assemblage’.  Mr Adams was fined £250 with £250 costs at the Cambourne Magistrates’ Court on March 12th 2009, pleading guilty to the charge of ‘reckless disturbance’ to the SSSI Feature. 

This case sends an important message to other irresponsible dog-owners, that disturbing birds on this SSSI will not be tolerated.  Natural England are to be congratulated on winning this case, the first of its kind via Section 28P(6A) of the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 as substituted by Schedule 9 to the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 and amendments made by the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006.

Two good men, both gamekeepers, stood up and were counted. They risked everything, the court was told one of them, as a member, contacted his gamekeeping organisation but received an unsatisfactory response.

They could not be silent as they had witnessed horrific crimes. Badgers bludgeoned to death, multiple buzzards blasted out the sky and barbaric spring traps set in the open to kill raptors. Thanks to BASC and the courage of these men, two gamekeepers from the Kempton Estate in Shropshire, Kyle Burden and Roger Venton, were convicted.

The fact that for the first time the two gamekeepers were prepared to give evidence in a court against their colleagues is a major landmark in the battle against the persecution of birds of prey.

So, one month after the final suspended sentence was handed down to the ‘rogue’ gamekeepers, where are we?

It is not really a case of what has been said but much more about what hasn’t. Shooting Times, one of the most commonly-read shooting magazines reported on the case but missed the really crucial point that it was gamekeepers who were the ones to blow the whistle in this case. An oversight or an inconvenient truth?

In 2008, the RSPB launched a Bird of Prey campaign and we have been encouraged by the thousands who have pledged their support for birds of prey.

Following the bravery of the two gamekeepers who came forward, we produced an advert calling for other good men in the shooting world to follow suite and confidentially report other ‘bad apples’.

Shooting Times declined to accept our words or money and refused to carry the advert. Apparently, it would have been an insult to their readers to suggest they may know wildlife criminals.

To add further insult to injury, we have been made aware that one of the whistleblowers even wrote a letter to Shooting Times in order to add an exclusive inside view to the debate. Three weeks on his letter has still not been published - we wonder why ? Ironically, the most recently published letter simply attacks the RSPB for testing the fairness of ST.

So what does a ST reader want to read ?

In a current on-line poll at www.shootingtimes.co.uk, over 65% of voters believe the magazine was wrong not to feature the RSPB hotline advert. Good on you, you are the type of people we can engage with, the same type of people we enjoyed talking to at the Game Fair last year - the majority appalled by the harm done to shooting by the few who, under the instruction of their bosses, commit such cowardly crimes.

The facts are out there but not all appear to be welcome and certainly have yet to be published, in some quarters.

For the past three summers, the RSPB has become increasingly concerned about razorbill and guillemot deaths reportedly caused by the birds drowning in fishing nets set for salmon and sea trout in Filey Bay, North Yorkshire.

If left unchecked, this has the potential to be a huge conservation issue, particularly considering the dying birds are most likely coming from the nearby, internationally important RSPB Bempton Cliffs seabird colony, so in early 2008 we engaged in discussions with Natural England and the Environment Agency (EA), who license the fishery.

Encouragingly, a threshold system was adopted whereby when a certain number of birds were being caught per week, a voluntary ban would come into force and fishing would stop for 14 days. The fishermen at Filey, who in total operate six licensed nets, all agreed to report seabird bycatch to a co-ordinator employed by the EA.

Faced with concerns of cruelty and that the true level of bycatch was not being fully reported, RSPB Investigations undertook covert evidence gathering at Filey on 13 and 17 June 2008. Investigations Officer Mark Thomas takes up the account of what he uncovered. 

“It was a cold, grey 4 am dawn. The smell of yesterday’s fish and chips spiralled around the seafront in the onshore breeze, while a single dog walker cut a lonely figure on the beach.

Binoculars slowly lifted to the eyes brought a truth to last night’s dreams. There, barely offshore, was a thin, snaking line marking the top of an otherwise invisible fishing net below the water.  Either side of this line, I could make out numerous black objects floating on the surface. Each object lifted gracefully every few seconds with the incoming waves.

In detail, there was nothing at all graceful about these blobs. They were the sharp, pointed wingtips of dead razorbills, which only a matter of hours before had been at their nests on Yorkshire’s highest sea cliffs.

In their lifetime, they had survived the worst nature could throw at them, including storm-force seas and food shortages. On the cliffs, their appealing antics had been admired by thousands of visitors and holidaymakers from afar - some so inspired by these little birds that they became lifelong supporters of conservation.

What a totally pointless and avoidable way to die, trapped in a nylon net left unattended overnight. On this scale, I find 'bycatch' is too short a word and sadly slips off the tongue far too easily to reflect its true implication."

Similarly, three days later, continuing observations from a hidden location on the seafront revealed large numbers of live birds struggling to avoid drowning within the same net just off the beach. We believe the fishermen could easily have released the birds earlier, but instead they chose to collect their haul of fish and return to the shore, ignoring up to 40 birds floundering for several hours. 

During the two days, over 100 auks were recorded caught in the net, mostly razorbills. Significantly, at this time of year it is highly likely that the drowned birds were part of breeding pairs in the local area and that their nests and chicks are likley to have also died as a consequence, making this a conservation as well as a welfare problem.

The video evidence was immediately shown to the Environment Agency and Natural England, who jointly agreed that fishing activity should be suspended at Filey for 14 days.

When fishing resumed, it was operated under a stricter regime in which nets were not set overnight - this, together with the fact that most of the birds had by now completed their breeding and had headed out to open sea, resulted in much lower numbers of birds being caught accidentally.

We also sent the footage to North Yorkshire Police. As a result of this, a fishermen was charged with causing unnecessary suffering to seabirds, mainly razorbills, on the dates on which evidence was gathered.

Unfortunately, the case had to be discontinued by the Crown Prosecution Service (after much consultation with both the RSPB and RSPCA) when it became apparent that the Animal Welfare Act 2006 does not apply to incidents taking place offshore.

It is important to make it clear that we are not trying to stop the fishery, but that we, like many others, believe it is unacceptable that hundreds of seabirds are dying avoidable deaths in these nets every year.

We are calling on the Environment Agency to introduce better practices and a new bylaw to underpin this with enforcement action. Simply preventing nets being left out at night and instigating a short period of closure during the peak ‘bycatch’ period could prevent the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of birds.

We await the 2009 season with fear and hope but most of all determination - determination to make it work for everybody, including the fishermen and of course the birds.

In June 2007, I took a call in the RSPB Investigations office. Although we routinely receive information about the persecution of birds of prey, this was no ordinary call.  It was from a man who had a very powerful story to tell.

This man was no fool, he had been a game keeper for 25 years. He knew the way of the countryside and the stark implications of the information he was about to divulge. He told me he had been badly let down. Firstly by his former manager, a head keeper on the Kempton Estate in Shropshire, and then, more surprisingly, by one of the gamekeeper organisations that represented his trade.

A couple of days later I met him in an anonymous motorway services. You could not fail to be impressed by this man’s physical and moral stature.  If he had been let down, then more fool the people who had crossed him.

Slowly the story came out. On his first few days of employment on the Kempton Estate he witnessed the shooting of buzzards and the clubbing to death of live Badgers caught in snares. All the work of the 18 year old under keeper.

From that very first moment he witnessed criminal activity he felt trapped. He and his wife needed the money from his new job, a job which also provided a house – what would you do? He told me he did the only thing he could do, he kept his head down and didn’t get involved in the organised slaughter. Instead, he got on with his normal duties of looking after pheasants and ignored the calls of the head keeper to ‘do his share’.

Even after only a matter of days, the under keeper thought he had the confidence of the new man and showed him his ‘vermin’ diary boasting about coded entries relating to protected wildlife. This included the season’s tally for buzzards, which was already in the eighties. This was a mistake the underkeeper would later repeat.

The witness informed me that after three weeks he was sacked by the head keeper, as a result of ‘failing to perform his duties’. Thanks to a friendly and guiding voice from British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) he was put in touch with the RSPB, and I was now sat starring at him with an open mouth.

However, it didn’t end there. In an incredible twist of fate, the man employed to replace him also contacted the RSPB.  He had started work on the Kempton Estate in July 2008, but left in disgust after only a week having witnessed further acts of killing and trapping. He had also been shown the ‘vermin diary’ by the over confident underkeeper. The buzzard tally had now reached 90. More specifically, he gave us the locations of active pole traps being used to kill raptors.

Amazingly, and quite independently, the two gamekeepers had come forward with corroborating accounts. Whilst we had received information from gamekeepers before, what made this case so unique was that both men were prepared to put their heads above the parapet and provide witness statements for the police.

We visited the estate and kept constant watch over a 48 hour period, sleeping rough in order to gain the evidence. We successfully filmed the headkeeper visiting one of his pheasant pens and casually passing with a few metres of a set pole-trap. In the middle of the night we visited the pole-trap, confirmed it was set and then disarmed it to prevent further deaths. The police were contacted and a raid followed. In the glovebox of the underkeeper’s vehicle the damming coded diary described by the two witnesses was found. This now stood at 102 buzzards, 40 ravens, 37 badgers and a number of other raptors.  This raid set in motion the chain of events that eventually led to the two Kempton Estate gamekeepers appearing in court.

At Telford Magistrates Court in September 2008, under keeper Kyle Burden pleaded guilty to a number of charges of killing buzzards and badgers and setting traps. Despite his age and no previous convictions, the court viewed the matter so seriously that they imposed a six month suspended jail sentence.

Head keeper Roger Venton, chose to go not guilty to using a pole-trap and permitting Burden to set illegal traps. On the 3 December he appeared at court for trial. However, when faced with the stark reality that both gamekeeper witnesses had arrived and were prepared to stand up and be counted, at the very last moment he pleaded guilty to two charges. We await Venton’s sentencing on January 2nd - he recieved a 6 months suspended jail sentence, 260 hours community order and costs of £2000.

The persecution of birds of prey in the UK remains a widespread and persistent problem. It is particularly serious for species of high conservation concern such as hen harriers and golden eagles. The link between these criminal acts and land managed for game shooting in clear, despite denials from many in the shooting industry. Not surprisingly it is usually the gamekeeper, the man with ‘his finger on the trigger’, who shoulders most of the blame. However, that perception barely scratches the surface of a problem ingrained deep into the shooting industry.

This case has highlighted the division that exists in the gamekeeping world. There are many who are law abiding, but understandably reluctant to come forward when colleagues break the law or their own job is at risk. Then there are the law breakers, many of whom are no doubt put in that position because of pressure from managers and employers to kill birds of prey and other wildlife. It is these managers and employers within the shooting industry who are the real problem. People who have been orchestrating these offences for decades and hiding behind the criminal actions of their staff. We need the government and the police to start bringing real pressure on these people so that all estates are run within the law.

On the back of this case, the RSPB launched a confidential hotline for gamekeepers and others to pass on informations in confidence about the illegal killing of raptors. We have seen two good men who were prepared to stand up together for what is right. Sadly, Shooting Times, one of the most commonly read shooting magazines, has refused to carry our hotline advert. We push on regardless - raptors depend upon our actions.

Now the telephone has begun ringing, let’s hope 2009 brings the dawn of a new era of cooperation.

If you are appalled by this case then please do not forget to visit our Bird of Prey campaign pages where you can see a video clip of the investigation and most importantly sign the bird of prey pledge calling for an end to the illegal killing. Visit http://www.rspb.org.uk/supporting/campaigns/birdsofprey

BBC coverage of the case can be found here  http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/shropshire/7808839.stm

Was his biggest mistake keeping a tally in his notebook, boasting to other gamekeepers or simply the act of shooting protected species in the first place?

There is no doubt that the breakthrough in this case came when two separate gamekeepers working on the same Kempton Estate as Kyle Burden decided to blow the whistle.

The path for these good men was not going to be easy; they knew the moment they spoke up they were out of a job, they had to convince the authorities and then be prepared for the pressure from assisting the likely court case – a daunting prospect.

So it was on June 15th 2007 that I took the call from an audibly frightened man who just wanted to do the best thing and seek justice for the unnecessary slaughter he had witnessed.

I met him in person and listened as gruesome details emerged of the shooting of buzzards and clubbing to death of badgers – all seemingly a matter of routine for Kyle Burden on the Kempton Estate. Then came the crux of the case: as in so many previous cases, the compulsion to detail the crimes was overpowering – it came in the form of a notebook. I was told by both men exactly where to find it and what it contained: coded entries relating to the deaths of 102 buzzards, 40 ravens and 37 badgers, all in a short period of time on the estate.

Burden had shown his book to both whistleblowers - he felt he had nothing to fear as they were all the same - but thankfully, on this occasion that was not the case.

The two witnesses saw some of the killing first hand. One man had only been working on the estate for a matter of hours when the first buzzard fell, followed shortly after by live badgers bludgeoned whilst caught in snares. Burden offered that he used to be scared of killing wildlife but he had killed so much it did not bother him anymore.

It was no surprise when together with the Police we located the diary in Kyle Burden’s possession; analysis confirmed that it matched exactly with the details provided by the witnesses and that this was the driving force behind the guilty pleas
in this case.

Mitigation centred on Burden’s young age, remorse and previous good character. It was also suggested that the prodigy of an established game keeping college, was only trying to protect his pheasants for the shooting season – all of this being ‘the way of the countryside’.

He was sentenced to a six-month suspended jail term, 150 hours community work and ordered to pay £200 costs.

Thanks to this case the bad parts of the shooting world are yet again called into question but thankfully on this occasion, the ranks have been split and the good men are beginning to find their voices – we praise you.

Heard the one about the peregrine falcon that spent the night "doing bird"?
 
Peregrines are not common birds in East Anglia and as breeding birds they are decidedly rare. So, when a pair turned up in the middle of an East Anglian town this Spring and nested on top of a tall telecommunications tower, the big question was, "Can they pull it off"? There was certainly plenty of prey available - pigeons, gulls and the like - but the area is also a minefield of potential hazards surrounded by busy industrial parks, barbed wire, cables, and busy roads, not to mention a nearby railway line.
 
Sure enough, the very morning that the first young peregrine left the nest I got a panicky call from Peter, a security guard who works near the tower. "It's happened", he said. Apparently, a young female peregrine had managed to impale herself on a spiked fence during her first flight. In freeing herself she had ripped out one of her talons, there was a wound on her chest and she couldn't fly. To his great credit, Peter quickly brought in a local raptor rescue team who followed the trail of blood and managed catch her up and take her into care.
 
It was touch and go to start with. She wouldn't eat and refused to fly - clearly all was not right. However, x-rays revealed no obvious internal injuries. Luckily, after ten days of TLC, she was eating well, putting on weight and  - most crucially of all for a winged predator - she was starting to fly. Hurrah! But now for the tricky bit - introducing her back to her family in the wild. What if she shot off never to be seen again? What if her parents didn't accept her after all this time and chased her away? We couldn't be sure of success - but we had to try.
 
So it was that one evening, the team of raptor rescuers, Peter the security guard, a few bemused workers and yours truly gathered at the nest site to watch the release. The young peregrine was carefully placed on the roof of an adjacent building in the hope she would fly back to the tower. Her siblings were calling and she answered back. "That's good", we thought, "Contact has been re-established". It was all looking promising. Suddenly, she took off flying strongly. Great! But hang on a minute - she's going in the wrong direction! We watched horrified as our newly released peregrine flew off into the distance, over the perimeter wall of the nearby prison, collided with the wall of an accommodation block and promptly dropped out of view into the prison compound! She seemed to have been trying to make it to the roof of the prison building, but in her inexperience had miscalculated and missed by about two feet. We looked at each other in exasperation. What to do next?
 
I can guarantee that the request that I made at the prison gatehouse about half an hour later was probably the strangest that has ever been made at one of HM's establishments. I didn't exactly say, "Please can we have our peregrine back?", but it wasn't far off it! Not surprisingly, as it was after lock up time, the prison guards wouldn't let me in to look for her. But they did promise to call me if anyone found her grounded in the morning. By now it was getting dark so we had to leave her there, "banged up" for the night. At least, we thought, she would be safe and secure. But I think we were all a bit uneasy how it would all end up.
 
We needn't have worried. Next morning, Peter called to say that shortly after dawn he had seen her flying strongly back over the prison wall making a bee-line for the tower where she joined her brother and sister with much raucous calling.  A few hours later, Peter saw her again, clearly recognisable by the silver BTO ring on her left leg, tucking into a breakfast of feral pigeon that she had been brought by one of her parents. At the time of writing, the family are all doing well, the young birds becoming more proficient and confident in their flying skills every day.
 
So, if you happen to catch a glimpse of a female peregrine in East Anglia some time in the future, look out for a shiny silver ring on her left leg. There's just a chance it could be our escaped jail bird!

The other morning I was very pleased to hear the dulcet tones of a Radio 4 Today presenter interviewing Prof Des Thomson from Scottish Natural Heritage. The long-awaited commissioned report regarding the conservation of golden eagles in Scotland had been published (read RSPB reaction to it here).

Working as I do with the nastier end of wildlife conservation issues in Scotland, it came as no surprise to hear that illegal persecution was the main factor in limiting expansion into (what should be) core areas for the species. The golden eagle poisoned in the Scottish borders in 2007 was such a shocking event - it really highlighted the species' plight and demonstrated how things can change negatively for this long-lived, slow to reproduce species - a point that RSPB Scotland and others have repeatedly made over the years.

Particularly striking is the point in the report made by the authors (Whitfield, Fielding, McLeod and Haworth) that only three of 16 regions in Scotland where eagles have occupied territories since 1982 were considered to be in favourable conservation status, and these were all in western areas. I noted that in both of our stunning Scottish National Parks, golden eagles are failing to occupy territories as they should.

I remember visiting my first ever eagle eyrie with the late great eagle expert, Jeff Watson. The site was on a craggy cliff in a remote location in the Highlands and one of Jeff's core nests that he monitored under licence for many years. To see a golden eagle soaring over a ridge in a remote glen is such a fantastic experience. I never forgot the experience, and I must admit it was a lump in my throat when I read Jeff's forward in the report (written shortly before he passed away). He describes the report as:

'a penetrating analysis of data from all golden eagle territories in Scotland has yielded a clear picture of the constraints of this bird'.

He ends with:

'Undoubtedly the highest priority of all is the need to address the illegal persecution which continues to affect golden eagle populations in the eastern and southern parts of the species range. There can be no more urgent task than to eliminate this blight on the population of this majestic bird which perhaps more than any other creature, is valued as a symbol of wild Scotland'.

My team prepares an annual Persecution Report (and the RSPB has done so for many years), these reports make sobering reading. The maps we include every year illustrate the pattern of persecution incidents displayed as dots on a map of Scotland. We recently overlaid a map of the breeding locations of breeding eagles onto this map and we can see clearly why the species is largely absent from the managed heather grouse moors of the upland areas.

Essentially, any pioneering young birds are moving east and south looking for territories with good future breeding potential, lots of food and no other eagles. They find these conditions, but are not being allowed to breed due to illegal killing.

One hopes that reports such as this are used by senior police officers, land owners and managers to guide policy and decision making in the countryside. The uplands are not truly wild without these iconic species.

We shall certainly continue to assist the police and others when we next receive that dreadful message that yet another eagle, buzzard, hen harrier or goshawk has been killed, or nesting attempt disrupted, due to criminal behaviour.

Please add your voice to our campaign to stop illegal killing of birds of prey - signing our online petition is quick and easy

Orphan peregrine (right) meets its new family

In June my colleague James Leonard reported on a long and dramatic day we had placing two young peregrine chicks into foster nests (see previous blog).  This followed the horrific incident at a peregrine breeding site in Staffordshire where an adult male peregrine was caught by an illegally placed metal spring-trap.  This bird had to be euthanized.  The female had also disappeared and was suspected to have been killed.  This had left us with two orphaned peregrine chicks.  The charity Raptor Rescue had kindly looked after these birds whilst we frantically tried to locate suitable wild nest sites which could potential foster these birds.

Thanks to the help of a number of people we were able to put each chick into a wild nest site, both only containing two chicks.  To our delight and relief the new arrivals were immediately accepted by their foster family.  The parent peregrines, who clearly cannot count, quickly set about feeding an extra hungry mouth.  The sites were monitored by volunteers, who kept us updated with progress.  We recently received the fantastic news that both of the orphaned chicks had successfully fledged along with their adopted brothers and sisters. So despite the initial tragedy, there was at least some consolation with the happy ending for these two chicks.

This incident, and related events, have attracted considerable media attention in the West Midlands with a reward offered for information leading to the conviction of any of those responsible.  The RSPB has been working with the West Midlands and Staffordshire Police to try to prosecute those responsible.  Myself and my colleagues recently helped the police raid a number of addresses to look for evidence.  These enquiries are still continuing and we can only hope that during the next breeding season there will be no more of these tragic events. 

Birds of prey continue to need protection and support and I would ask people to sign the RSPB pledge at http://www.rspb.org.uk/birdsofprey

It was bright and sunny on 22 May and I found myself heading down the M6 to meet my colleague, Guy, and some concerned locals near Dudley to check out a peregrine falcon's nest site.

Previously, we had received numerous phone calls from locals, who believed that several metal spring traps had been put on a peregrine nesting ledge. Spring traps can legally be used under cover to kill rats and other small mammals, but their use in the open is totally illegal.

While we sorted our climbing gear, it was nice to see a pair of adult peregrines flying nearby.

I put the ropes in place and Guy ascended from below. Guy's shocked voice came over the radio: 'James, you have to come and see this!'

We were astounded to see two metal spring traps pegged onto the nest ledge - clearly a deliberate and malicious attempt to trap and kill the adult peregrines. Fortunately, both traps had been sprung, but two unhatched eggs lay on the nest ledge.

We set about documenting the scene, photographing and videoing the evidence before, collecting the spring traps and eggs. This was then immediately reported to the Police.

Trapped

The following day while in Northumberland, Guy and I received a phone call telling us that a local raptor worker, near Cannock, had found a male peregrine caught in a spring trap at its nest, which contained two young chicks.

They also found four other spring traps, including one with feathers and blood. The female had disappeared and we suspected she had also been trapped and killed.

I later saw the photograph of the male peregrine with the spring trap on its leg, which was horrific. This bird had to be euthanized because of its injuries.

The two chicks were taken into care and Raptor Rescue, a registered charity, took on the task of rearing the young without imprinting them - avoiding making the birds think they are humans!

I wondered how anybody could deliberately plan and carry out such cruel and barbaric acts on one of our most enigmatic birds of prey. A number of local people indicated they had heard stories that a number of disgruntled pigeon fanciers were involved. Peregrines and other birds of prey do take racing pigeons, though losses are small compared to the number of birds which don't return due to other factors.

Research has shown that only 3.5% of racing pigeons are taken by peregrines each year. In contrast, 36% of pigeon losses are the result of birds straying and becoming exhausted.

The West Midlands and Staffordshire Police, supported by the RSPB, put out a press release asking for more information and with a potential reward of £1,000 for information leading to the conviction of any of those responsible.

What now for the chicks?

In the meantime we faced a problem. Peregrine chicks belong in the wild, but with no parents, how could this happen?

The best method was to get these young birds back in the wild by fostering them into wild peregrine nests. Fortunately, it appears adult peregrines cannot count!

This method has been used before in Scotland, but as far as we were aware, this was the first time in England. We had to consider the ages of the chicks, and the extra demands that this would place on the foster family, and decided that we would have to split up the chicks and place them into separate nests.

We contacted some licensed volunteers who monitor the breeding birds of prey in a particular area. As luck would have it, they knew of two nest sites, both with two young in, that were of the correct age. Peregrines usually have three to four chicks and so would be capable of rearing one extra.

Liaising with Raptor Rescue, the local volunteers and landowners, we arranged a date for the operation - 5 June, a day I will remember for the rest of my life.

The moments of truth

An early start saw Guy and I visit Raptor Rescue and the two orphaned peregrines. The birds were in brilliant health and very vocal - always hungry and crying out for more! We collected the birds and met up with a local volunteer, who was going to take us to the two foster nest sites.

Ropes were needed to access the nest site, so we geared up, and I descended to the peregrine nest ledge, where I found two well-fed and happy young chicks. I was delighted to see that they were the perfect age for the orphaned chick I had carried down with me.

The decisive moment was upon me; I gently removed the young chick from its carrying bag and carefully placed it onto the nest ledge, next to its step-sisters. Without a glance at each other, the three young peregrines all fixed their attention to me, and occasionally the food remains in the nest.

The young bird was back in the wild where it belonged; for me those seconds will last forever.

I then descended to the bottom of the cliff and, knowing the parents were watching from afar, we left them to acquaint themselves with the new addition to the family.

Time was pressing. We drove to the second site. I assisted Guy as he secured the last chick in its carrying bag, and descended towards the nest ledge where its future lay. I had the pleasure of being able to watch Guy as he placed the second orphan into the nest; again, the age of the chicks was perfect.

As I watched Guy prepare to ascend, I noticed the chicks moving, and saw the foster chick huddled in between the others. It had been accepted immediately!

With huge grins on our faces, we headed home. The following day we had great news from the local volunteers that the adult peregrines had been seen feeding all the chicks, apparently oblivious of the new arrivals in their family.

• Pledge your support for our birds of prey
• We can't continue our conservation work without the help of our members. Join the RSPB
  

Hopefully by now you will have realised that the RSPB is in the process of embarking on a three year Bird of Prey campaign. We, like the raptors, need your support, particularly if you are a land manager who welcomes birds of prey and wishes to share your good practice. At the very least, please sign a pledge calling for an end to the mindless slaughter. We would also like to hear from you so we can use your stories and experience in our liaison work with other farmers and landowners.

Talking of birds of prey, the burning question for the past three weeks has been ‘who did it?’ Sworn to secrecy, my lips were sealed. Keen listeners to the Radio 4 programme The Archers will know exactly what I am on about.

A few weeks ago, a dead red kite was found illegally poisoned in Ambridge and all the fingers started pointing at Will, the young gamekeeper. The story took on various twists including Will finding a poisoned buzzard and burying it in panic.

Late last week, listeners finally found out who the real culprit was when Will discovered a poisoning kit in the estate vehicle used by Malcolm – the estate underkeeper.

Of course, this incident is just fictional but sadly it’s all too real for the Police, RSPB and Government conservation agencies who collectively deal with scores of illegally poisoned raptors, and other wildlife each year. Only last year, 58 birds of prey were confirmed as having been illegally poisoned – this equates to one per week and the true figure is thought to be much higher. Appalled? Please sign our pledge.

It’s not all bad news. Only yesterday I was helping BAA at a major UK airport with an exceptionally rare visitor that had flown in and landed in a rather inappropriate location.

The bird in question was a young female Montagu’s harrier which had chosen to hunt the verges of the main runway. The runway security team spotted the bird and thinking it was a hen harrier contacted the RSPB with some photographs.

I attended shortly after and was amazed to find the bird to be the UK’s rarest breeding raptor, the Montagu’s harrier. I obtained excellent views and hopefully passed on helpful advice to the airport in managing the stay of this long-haul visitor, which has just migrated from East Africa. Impressed? – Please sign our pledge.

When Lincolnshire Police Wildlife Crime Officer PC Nigel Lound invited the RSPB on a police egg collecting operation back in November 2006, little did anyone realise what it would lead to.

The suspect, 41-year-old Richard Pearson, was not on the wildlife crime 'radar' and had not been in trouble with the Police before.

However, the intelligence received was precise and detailed.

We arrived at the address, in a quiet Cleethorpes road, and within a few minutes had hit the jackpot - a back bedroom full of polystyrene fish boxes, each housing hundreds of wild bird eggs.

The scale of the collection was not immediately apparent but I knew it was in the thousands, with some boxes having multiple layers of eggs cradled between cotton wool levels.

Amongst the eggs, I recognised immediately ones belonging to peregrine, golden eagle, osprey, avocet and black-throated diver.

Continued searching by the dedicated Police wildlife team revealed even more significant items, including numerous diaries crammed full of the details of Richard Pearson's egg collecting activities over the previous 15 years - robberies of black-necked grebes, choughs, peregrines and barn owls, to name but a few.

Pearson was arrested and interviewed. He claimed the eggs had been given to him by the late Colin Watson - a notorious egg collector who had been convicted seven times prior to his death, when he fell from a tree containing a sparrowhawk nest in May 2006.

Counting and cross-referencing

For the next few months, my quality of life indicator was set too low - let me explain... In order to successfully get this case to court, it was essential that each and every egg was identified, photographed and catalogued.

This was a mammoth task, which could only be completed by my self-imposed exile from society in a small room, full to the ceiling with eggs, for days on end.

Eventually, the job was completed and Richard Pearson's illegal haul was found to contain 7,130 wild birds' eggs, representing the single largest seizure of its kind in the last 20 years.

The collection contained eggs of many rare species including honey buzzard, Montagu's harrier, red-necked phalarope, black-tailed godwit, dotterel, greenshank and 15 clutches of red-backed shrike.

Next came the equally arduous task of cross-referencing codes in his diaries with those written on the eggs in the collection. It was important to be able to show to the court the exact eggs taken from particular egg collecting forays mentioned in his diaries.

Prolific collecting

It became apparent that although he made regular trips to northern England, Scotland and north Wales, his most prolific collecting took place within his home county of Lincolnshire.

His diaries documented the taking of seven sets of black-necked grebe eggs from one site in Lincolnshire alone, causing the birds to fail to produce any youngsters and ultimately to desert their breeding site.

Pearson was not only content with the rare; other eggs in his haul included 25 clutches of little ringed plover eggs, 23 clutches of ringed plover eggs, 37 clutches of raven, 28 clutches of lapwing and 96 clutches of reed warblers.

Pearson was charged with possession of the egg collection and three specimen charges for taking of eggs in 2005 relating to peregrine, chough and barn owl.

A day in court

At Skegness Magistrates Court yesterday, Pearson pleaded guilty to five offences and was jailed for five-and-a-half months by District Judge Richard Blake. The judge commented that Pearson represented the top end of people who commit these sorts of crimes, that he had carefully organised an evil campaign against wildlife and that his perverted activities threatened the fragile heritage of this island for future generations - hear, hear.

The case has attracted a huge amount of timely media interest with the breeding season underway in earnest. One thing is for sure, nesting birds should have a quieter breeding season this year, providing us all with a high quality of life indicator - except of course for the man locked in a small room for the next few months.

The RSPB wishes to thank Clova Townhill for her assistance with the case, Lincolnshire Police, particularly PC Lound, PC Whilley, PC Carmichael and barrister David Outterside who represented the case for the Crown Prosecution Service.

31 May 2007. Headkeeper James Shuttlewood (front) with a North Yorkshire Police officer at one of the cage traps containing a live pigeon on the Snilesworth Estate (there was no conviction in respect of this trap)

Bird of prey persecution remains a serious problem on upland sporting estates across much of Britain with birds being shot, trapped and poisoned to try to reduce predation on grouse and other game birds. The absence or low numbers of birds of prey across large parts of the uplands is testament to the problem.

Despite over 50 years of legal protection, there is little sign of these Victorian attitudes changing in many places. In North Yorkshire, rare and charismatic species such as hen harriers and peregrines continue to be persecuted.

In May 2007, a local farmer reported finding three cage traps baited with live pigeons in secluded woodland areas in the Scugdale Valley, on the Snilesworth Estate on the North York Moors.

A cage trap is typically a wooden frame covered with wire mesh with an access point on the top to allow the target birds to enter. Cage traps can be used legally to control magpies and crows, however, the use of live pigeons as baits, clearly indicated they were being set to catch birds of prey.

Sparrowhawks, or the much rarer goshawks, are the typical victims of such traps. Having entered to kill the pigeon, they find that they are unable to escape and they in turn can be killed by the trap user. The North Yorkshire Police had been contacted about this and we decided it would be worth making further enquiries on the rest of the estate.

On Saturday 26 May, in company with my colleague Guy Shorrock, we spent eight hours walking around the estate looking for cage traps and checking secluded woodland areas. Incredibly, we came across three further cage traps baited with live pigeons, and a further cage trap with a dead pigeon, which appeared to have been plucked by a bird of prey.

Only 20 metres from this trap, I found the body of a sparrowhawk pushed down a rabbit hole and it seemed this was a likely victim of the trap. It was abundantly clear that there was a campaign of illegal trapping taking place on the estate. However, from previous experience we knew we had to link any culprits with the traps to obtain sufficient evidence for a prosecution.

Covert surveillance 

This was to be my first covert surveillance operation with the RSPB and on the Sunday we spent our time preparing our equipment. We awoke at an uncomfortable 2.20 am on the Monday morning, left our accommodation and drove to a location on the edge of the North Yorkshire moors.

We walked several miles across the moors in the dark and went to one of the cage traps in the Coal Rigg plantation. The same pigeon was still present and we installed a small automatic camera system to monitor the trap.

We continued to another cage trap at Skelbeast Wood, again the same pigeon was still present. Here we concealed ourselves nearby overlooking the cage trap. Despite being May, the weather was atrocious with a biting wind and long periods of rain. In the late afternoon, nobody had arrived, so we decided to leave.

That evening, we met up with two of our Scottish colleagues, who agreed to travel down and help us. After a late evening briefing and equipment check, we snatched a few hours sleep before another 2.20 am start.

It was raining heavily as we left our colleagues to walk to the Coal Rigg plantation. We also made our way through the pouring rain back to Skelbeast Wood. We were both drenched to the skin and so cold we wondered if we could undertake the surveillance. Not wanting to lose face in front of our Scottish colleagues, we decided to stick it out.

29 May 2007. Junior underkeeper David Cook caught on camera feeding the captive pigeon in one of the illegal cage traps on the Snilesworth Estate

At 9.45 am, I was half-comatose trying to keep the video camera dry, when I was aware somebody was throwing pine cones at me. I looked round to Guy a few metres away, who was watching the approach track, and from his gestures it was clear people were arriving. I then got ready with the video camera and within a minute, the young underkeeper, David Cook, arrived and spent a few minutes feeding and watering the pigeon in the trap.

My heart was pounding as I tried to keep the video camera steady. Barely daring to breathe, I stayed as still as possible whilst he left the wood, wandering through the trees a short distance away.

A few minutes later, we heard him and his colleague leaving the area on a quad bike. We let our colleagues know what had happened, and within 10 minutes they had also successfully filmed Cook visiting the cage trap in Coal Rigg plantation, again feeding and watering the pigeon.

We all left the area, and our colleagues returned to Scotland for some much-needed rest. We contacted PC Mark Rasbeary, an experienced Wildlife Crime Officer (WCO) with the North Yorkshire Police, and outlined our evidence.

 

31 May 2007. PC Jeremy Walmsley quizzes gamekeeper Charles Woof (left) about the presence of a live pigeon in a cage trap on the Snilesworth Estate.

On 31 May, a number of police officers, an RSPCA officer and ourselves returned to the estate. With some five gamekeepers working on the estate we suspected it would be difficult to visit all the traps without the pigeons being released before we got there. Sure enough, only two of the six cage traps still contained live pigeons.

The hidden camera at Coal Rigg plantation later told a revealing story - a young man could be seen clearly releasing the pigeon from the cage trap just a few minutes before the police arrived at that location.

The RSPB supplied a comprehensive file of evidence to WCO PC Jeremy Walmsley, the officer in charge of the investigation, complete with photographs and our surveillance footage. A number of gamekeepers from the estate were subsequently interviewed by the Police and reported for offences.

A day in court 

On 8 February 2008 at Scarborough Magistrates Court, three of the Snilesworth Estate gamekeepers pleaded guilty to a number of offences.

The head gamekeeper, James Shuttlewood (40), an experienced gamekeeper of over 20 years, pleaded guilty to five offences of permitting the use of five of the illegal traps by his staff. He was fined £1,250.

Charles Woof (22), the gamekeeper covering the Scugdale valley, pleaded guilty to using one of the traps and was fined £100.

David Cook (18), a trainee underkeeper, pleaded guilty to using the two traps where he had been filmed. In view of his age and inexperience, he received a 12 month conditional discharge.

It was clear the court took a particularly serious view of Mr Shuttlewood’s involvement, outlining that his staff were carrying out his instructions and that his reputation had been tarnished.

The illegal killing goes on 

Unfortunately, the war being waged against birds of prey in our uplands will continue, and already this year we have had reports of persecution. Whilst gamekeepers, like those on the Snilesworth Estate, may be on the front line of this conflict, it is the shooting industry, the managers and employers who need to get their house in order. There needs to be a serious change in attitude if we are to see an improvement for the fortunes of many of our birds of prey.

• How you can support our work to keep the UK's birds of prey safe 

He stood in the dock and told the court he was sorry, that the bird breeding season was a stressful time for him and that his problem was that he associated with other collectors, who fuel his obsession for taking eggs.

In life, people have choices and ultimately these choices decide a person’s fate. In Gregory Wheal’s case, his choices have lead to him to become THE most convicted egg collector in the UK.

His previous eight court appearances, dating back to 1987, simply served as no deterrent. Even being sent to jail for four months in January 2006 wasn’t enough. So when the Police and RSPB  knocked at his door in the summer of 2007, it was no surprised that the eggs of peregrine falcons and ravens were found hidden in padded containers in his bedroom.

Wheal’s exploits have seen him appear in an A to Z of Police Stations and courthouses throughout the UK: Shetland for whimbrel eggs, Mull when he was luckily intercepted with equipment used by egg collectors at a time when eagles were nesting, and, of course, back home in Coventry - the egg collecting capital of the UK.

Well, Mr Wheal, the Magistrates have decided your time is up. Whilst we do not wish anyone to spend time in jail, we hope you spend the next six months contemplating your actions and decide to stop collecting eggs and hand over any eggs you may still have to the Police.

At a time when birds are increasingly pressured by habitat loss, climate change and migration-related threats, isn’t the idea of a grown man scaling a tree or abseiling from a crag to take eggs just simply wrong?

Thankfully, recently amended laws - the laws that you as our supporters and members helped us persuade the government to implement - have curtailed the activities of all but the obsessed collectors, who are prepared to risk all.

The idea of jailed collectors being ordered to serve their time to correspond with the bird breeding season would be one way to relieve the self- confessed stress faced by men like Gregory Wheal.

Sadly, this is not practical in legal terms, but yesterday the Crown Prosecution Service appealed to the magistrates to try a new innovative technique – the much-documented ASBO. The passing of this order would have restricted Wheal’s movements by banning him from National Parks, nature reserves and conservation areas during the breeding season and preventing him from associating with other known egg collectors.

The court ruled that egg collecting was anti-social but failed to implement the order on this specific occasion.

Looking on the bright side, at least this year the ravens should have hatched their chicks by the time he is released, hopefully a changed man…

It all started as a quiet day in the office, until my colleague, Guy Shorrock, called up - we had received a report of a person using a cage trap baited with live canaries to catch birds of prey!

The next morning I drove across to Easington Colliery, County Durham, to check this out, and found myself scrabbling about in the dense undergrowth around the rear of a secluded garden for about two hours. However, at the end of it I had found the cage trap, set adjacent to a pigeon loft, and baited with three live canaries.

I had no doubt it was set for sparrowhawks. Sparrowhawks will sometimes take racing pigeons, though overall losses are normally small with the vast majority of birds failing to return due causes such as bad weather, straying and collisions. As if to confirm my suspicions, just outside the garden, I located the remains of a dead sparrowhawk, unfortunately too old for any post mortem to determine cause of death.

A couple of days later, at some unearthly hour of the morning, I met up with Guy and we revisited the location. We spent a few hours waiting, and I filmed a man bringing out his cage trap and setting it in his garden. After a quick visit to the local police station, things started moving!

With a local police officer and an RSPCA Inspector, we visited the premises, using powers granted to the police under Section 19 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act (1981), and found our man, Mr Colwill, attending to his pigeon loft. When the outbuildings were searched, we found the cage trap, still with three live canaries!

Mr Colwill was arrested by the police and later interviewed. He admitted owning the trap and setting it - it would have been hard not to, given the video footage!

A subsequent meeting with the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) was very encouraging and they agreed to take the case forward. On 23 October 2007, Mr Colwill appeared in court and pleaded guilty to the setting of the cage trap on two occasions and one charge under the new Animal Welfare Act.

This latter offence related to failing to provide a suitable environment for his three canaries by keeping them as bait for a sparrowhawk. As my colleague said, 'how would you like to be caged with a tiger!' The defendant was fined £600 and received £60 costs.

This is a great example of the work that RSPB Investigations carries out and effective liaison with the Police, RSPCA and CPS. With good evidence and cooperation, a great result was achieved.

Many thanks to PC Paul Hughes, RSPCA Inspector Graheme Foggin and CPS Prosecutor Ian Walker.

• Find out more about birds of prey and how you can help them: www.rspb.org.uk/birdsofprey
• Read about bird of prey persecution