2013 bird crime figures released

The true scale of bird crime across the UK has been highlighted in the 2013 Birdcrime report published by the RSPB on October 30.

There were 164 reports of shooting and destruction of birds of prey. This included the confirmed shooting of two hen harriers, two marsh harriers, five peregrines and 28 buzzards, and 74 reported incidents of wildlife poisoning and pesticide-related offences.

Confirmed victims of poisoning include 30 buzzards, 20 red kites, a golden eagle and a white-tailed eagle.

There were also 14 cases of nests being robbed, including a case that involved the robbery of at least 50 little tern nests, and 29 reports of illegal taking, possession or sale of birds of prey.

More than half of these incidents (54 percent) were reported to have occurred in England, with 27 percent taking place in Scotland, 10 percent in Wales and 8percent in Northern Ireland. Two percent of the cases occurred in an unknown location in the UK

Unbelievably this could also just be the tip of the iceberg as these figures are believed to represent only a fraction of the illegal persecution in the UK, with many incidents thought to be going undetected and unreported. 

Continued ...

Barn owls suffer worst year on record

Monitoring results show species struggled in the bitterly cold spring of 2013

Press Association

theguardian.com, Thursday 24 April 2014 17.04 BST

Barn owls suffered their worst year on record in 2013 as they struggled in the bitterly cold spring, conservationists have said.

Results from barn owl monitoring schemes around the UK revealed the number of sites where nesting took place last year was significantly down in every area compared to previous years, and some surveys found no nests with eggs in at all.

Overall the number of occupied nests was down 71% on the average across all previous years, according to the Barn Owl Trust, which collated the information from 21 independent groups stretching from Jersey in the Channel Islands to south-west Scotland.

A survey in Berkshire which normally finds 14 nests in use and a surveyor in Yorkshire who normally finds 25-30 occupied nests both found none at all, while surveys in Buckinghamshire and Sussex were both down more than 90% on normal levels.

Conservationists described the situation as the "worst year ever recorded" for the flagship farmland species.

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