Police Scotland can confirm that a 64-year-old man has been charged with a number of wildlife crime offences in the Stewartry area of Dumfries and Galloway.   Extensive investigations have been ongoing into the deaths of upwards of 20 birds of prey and other wild birds in the Springholm area near Castle Douglas between 2018 […]

Derbyshire Police are appealing for witnesses after a Peregrine Falcon was found injured in Belper on 4th March 2020. The bird was taken to local vets on but died following surgery. We’re now appealing for information about how the Falcon became injured. Sergeant James Shirley from Derbyshire Constabulary’s rural crime team said: “The Peregrine Falcon was […]

A man who killed a protected sparrowhawk in his neighbour’s garden, using a catapult, has been spared jail but handed a fine of over £800. Yovanis Cruz, of Copsey Grove, Portsmouth, appeared at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court today (25 February 2020) facing 1 charge of intentionally killing a wild bird contrary to the Wildlife and Countryside […]

  A 60-year-old pigeon fancier has been fined for shooting and killing a sparrowhawk. Duncan Cowan, from Cowie in Stirlingshire was fined £450 after pleading guilty to a charge under section 1(1)(a) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 at Stirling Sheriff Court. The court heard that on the afternoon of 18 April 2019 a bird of prey […]

Campaigners call for stiffer penalties after Alan Wilson given community sentence A sheriff has criticised Scotland’s weak wildlife crime laws after a gamekeeper convicted of killing protected birds of prey and mammals avoided a prison term. Alan Wilson, 60, pleaded guilty in July to shooting and trapping badgers, an otter, goshawks and buzzards and installing […]

Plans to reintroduce the UK’s largest bird of prey to the south coast of England have been given the go-ahead. White-tailed eagles, which have a wingspan of up to 2.5m (8ft), were once widespread but were wiped out in the UK a century ago. Natural England has issued a licence to the Roy Dennis Wildlife […]

An innovative new type of satellite tag has been designed to provide a boost to understanding raptor movements and behaviour, as well as help understand the fate of birds which die in the Cairngorms National Park and more widely across Scotland. Over the next 18 months some young Golden Eagles in and around the Cairngorms […]

Hen harriers are disappearing on English grouse moors due to illegal killing, according to a scientific study. The birds of prey are one of England’s rarest birds, and a protected species. Data gathered over a decade found satellite-tagged hen harriers were ten times more likely to die or vanish when they were on or near […]

Working in partnership with the RSPB and RSPCA, Humberside Police Wildlife Crime Officers have been investigating the shooting of a Marsh Harrier in the Barton-Upon-Humber area of North Lincolnshire in early September 2018 close to the River Humber.   The bird was injured when found by a member of the public and x-rays later revealed […]

Scientists say they have been able to recover fingerprints from bird feathers that have been exposed to wind and rain for the first time. The development could offer a new tool in the fight against wildlife crime. Researchers at Dundee’s Abertay University had previously been able to take fingerprints from feathers under laboratory conditions. In the new […]