As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Wednesday 22 May 2019

Number of bird crimes in Scotland are ‘tip of an iceberg’


 May 8, 2019, 8:20 am
A wildlife investigator has claimed that the numbers of reported crimes against protected birds in Scotland are merely the “tip of an iceberg”.
New figures reveal that in the last ten years, there have been 124 incidents in the north-east relating to section one of the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
The section targets people who intentionally kills or injure any wild bird or takes any wild bird or their eggs.
And the figures show the north-east has seen a higher number of such incidents than any other region in Scotland, followed by the Highlands and Islands where police recorded 64 incidents.
But Ian Thomson, head of investigations at RSPB Scotland, said the figures should be taken “with a bucket of salt”.
He said: “The number of wildlife crimes against birds across Scotland will truly be far higher than the figures suggest.
“The numbers are only the tip of the iceberg – and we don’t know how big the actual iceberg actually is.
“Nature is often treated with an ‘out of sign out of mind approach’ and it is the number of incidents not recorded by police that are the truly problem – the ones there aren’t any witnesses to.”
While wildlife crime is “rarely” brought to the courts, the RSPB hope recent cases will lead to increased punishments for those who do harm wild birds in Scotland.
The charity previously welcomed the conviction of Aberdeen oil executive Keith Riddoch, who accidentally shot a protected bird of prey in 2017.
Riddoch blasted the buzzard with a shotgun during a shoot on a Highland estate and was fined £500 for the crime.

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