Sunday, 13 December 2015

Birdwatchers raise £2,200 to find more information on rare falcon killed near Whittlesey

Joel Lamy

15:36Sunday 29 November 2015

Birdwatchers have raised £2,200 to find out more information on the shooting of a rare red-footed falcon which was found dead near Whittlesey last month.

The news service Rare Bird Alert, which called the killing ‘scandalous’, is adding its money to the £1,000 sum put up by the RSPB to encourage people with information on the shooting to come forward.

The money has been raised in the last few days with £1,800 donated in the first 24 hours of the donation page being launched.

A post-mortem examination carried out after the body was passed to the RSPB has confirmed that the bird, a young (sub-adult) male, had been recently shot and that this was the cause of death.

The Rare Bird Alert said the falcon had spent a month at Chatterley Whitfield Colliery in Staffordshire and nearly the same amount of time at Willow Tree Fen near Spalding.

In a statement it said: “A scarce annual visitor to Britain, this beautiful bird was confiding and gave wonderful views - and much joy - to the large number of people who saw it.

“We applaud the RSPB’s response, and the tireless and often thankless work they do trying to bring to justice those who illegally persecute our protected birds of prey.

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