Wild birds such as goldfinches and chaffinches caught with traps, nets and glue then sold in Kingsnorth, Ashford, and across Kent say police and RSPB

Wild birds are being snatched from gardens and fields across Kent before being sold illegally.

Goldfinches, chaffinches and other attractive small birds are being caught using traps, nets and GLUE in what police are describing as a network of organised crime.

PC Michael "Geordie" Laidlow from the police's rural partnership team is one of six Kent officers dedicated to dealing with wildlife, environmental and heritage crime.

He said: "The theft of wild birds seems to be on the increase throughout Kent. It's something we come across quite often. There are networks of thieves operating across the county – I would call it low-level organised crime.

Continued

Researchers turn to cannons to save elusive birds

EASTHAM, Mass. (AP) — Three cannons explode on a deserted Cape Cod beach, unleashing a startling cloud of white smoke and sand. In tandem, projectiles erupt from the ground, flinging a net over a group of elusive shorebirds known as red knots.

A dozen wildlife researchers emerge from hiding and sprint to transfer the prized catch into holding boxes and then to a camp nearby. There, they collect feather samples as they measure, weigh and tag the robin-size birds, then fit their legs with tiny geolocators and release them.

Biologists hope the geolocators will use ambient light to calculate and record the locations of the rosy-breasted birds, helping conservation workers who will recapture them to determine their migration routes and refueling stops.

The red knot is already on New Jersey's endangered species list and has been proposed for inclusion on the federal list. It's known for its South America-to-Arctic migration, a 10,000-mile flight.

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Unacceptable': Buzzard nests and eggs destroyed to increase pheasant shoots

THE destruction of nests and eggs of protected birds buzzards that was licensed by a Government agency has been criticised as 'unacceptable' by the RSPB today.

By: Dion Dassanayake

Published: Thu, May 23, 2013

Government agency Natural England issue the first ever license to destroy four buzzard nests to prevent the protected birds preying on young pheasants at shoot.

The shoot owners, who said buzzards were damaging their business , were given permission to destroy the eggs and nests between April 23 and May 8.

The license was uncovered through the Environmental Information Regulations, which is equivalent to a a Freedom of Information (FOI) request.

Martin Harper, conservation director at the RSPB, criticed the lethal control of buzzards claiming it was 'unjustified' and 'unacceptable'.

He said: "Most of us celebrate the fact that buzzards are now regularly seen soaring in our skies. They are a conservation success story but we cannot take their return for granted.

The shoot owners said buzzards were damaging their business

I think that it is wrong for Natural England to issue buzzard control licences to protect commercial interests

Martin Harper from the RSPB: "I think that it is wrong for Natural England to issue buzzard control licences to protect commercial interests.

"It is wrong that there has been no public scrutiny of these decisions and it is wrong that we only heard of these decisions after the nests may have been destroyed."

The RSPB said buzzards, who are recovering from declines caused by persecution, accounted for one to two per cent of pheasant losses from shoots.

They added that there were other non-lethal ways to protect shoots from birds of prey.

Natural England claim that species could cause problems in isolated cases.

In a statement the government agency said: "The buzzard population in the locality remains particularly high and concentrated and we are confident that the local conservation status will not be adversely impacted by the destruction of this small number of nests."

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/401996/Unacceptable-Buzzard-nests-and-eggs-destroyed-to-increase-pheasant-shoots

Spoon-billed sandpipers threatened by trapping in China

Endangered spoon-billed sandpipers arriving at their wintering grounds in China are being threatened by nets designed to trap shorebirds.

The spoon-billed sandpiper is one of the world's rarest birds.

Recent sightings of the bird at several new sites along the coast of southern China indicate the species is more widespread than thought.

But the study also found evidence of large-scale shorebird trapping using "mist nets" in some of these key areas.

Last month four spoon-billed sandpipers were sighted at new wintering grounds in Fucheng, south-west Guangdong Province: the latest evidence that the bird is migrating to more widespread areas in China than previously known.
Members of the Hong Kong Bird Watching Society discovered a group of the critically endangered birds in partially drained fishponds in Fucheng.

During winter, spoon-billed sandpipers(Eurynorhynchus pygmeus) migrate from their breeding grounds in northeastern Russia and travel 8,000km to south and southeast Asia.

The sparrow-sized wading bird is the only species to be born with its distinctive spoon-shaped bill, which it uses to peck and probe in mud to find food.

The latest sightings, along with reports of the bird at several other sites in southern China in recent years, "[indicate] that this is a more important wintering area for the species than was previously known", according to BirdLife International.

Continued: http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/21086610

Witnessing illegal bird hunting on the North Coast

With fall hunting season in full swing, another year of unregulated bird hunting is plaguing the North Coast.

As birds migrate south from Europe for the winter, hunters have set up nets along the coast that run almost continuously from Arish to Salloum. The only gaps are where new compound developments have been built over the past decade.

Hunting season runs from the end of August to early October, and the people hunting migratory birds range from kids with guns who shoot birds for fun and food, to those who strategically place nets in military wetlands to collect large numbers of birds to sell for profit.

Regardless of who is doing the hunting, bird hunting in Egypt is indiscriminate and completely unregulated, resulting in declining bird populations and disturbed migratory patterns.

Continued:  http://www.egyptindependent.com/news/witnessing-illegal-bird-hunting-north-coast