Help us halt illegal hunting

Help us halt illegal hunting

Conservation impact

A blackcap caught in a mist net in Cyprus
A blackcap which breeds in the UK could end up being trapped illegally on the Mediterranean coast

Hunting and illegal killing have contributed to the unfavourable conservation status of a third of Europe's 129 substantially declining species, according to BirdLife International's 1994 assessment of the conservation status of birds in Europe.

Migrant species that concentrate in large numbers in Mediterranean countries en  route to and from Africa are particularly affected, as well as sedentary species such as partridges.

Up to a thousand million birds may be killed every year in the Mediterranean, including about 100,000 birds of prey. These totals may be more than 15% of the total number that spend the winter in or migrate to that area. 

The proportion killed could be much higher for species that are particularly prized by certain hunters, such as birds of prey and golden orioles. 

Evidence suggests that the largest numbers of birds are killed in southern France, northern Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Malta and Cyprus. 

Birds migrating from the UK killed illegally

Many species of birds migrating to and from the UK are killed illegally by Mediterranean hunters. Birds ringed (legally caught by licensed ringers, fitted with lightweight metal leg rings, then released unharmed) in the UK have provided evidence of this.

Since 1979, when the EU Birds Directive was adopted, UK-ringed birds of 25 legally protected songbird species have been reported as killed by hunting in southern Europe. Eleven of these species have an unfavourable conservation status in the EU. 

The species with the highest proportion of reported deaths due to hunting is the meadow pipit, a declining species in the EU. Declining species such as the wheatear, redstart, spotted flycatcher, willow warbler and sand martin are also affected, along with the blackcap, pied flycatcher and reed warbler. These reports are mainly from Spain and Portugal.

Last modified: 29 June 2006