2025-2028 NPCC Wildlife & Rural Crime Strategy
Yellow-legged Asian Hornet Week 1st - 7th September 2025
Operation EASTER launches for the 28th year
Bat Conservation Trust launch Halloween video to celebrate bats 🦇
Operation Badger re-launch for National Badger Day!
Craig Fellowes awarded MBE for services to wildlife
Operation EASTER ~ 27 years of stopping egg thieves
Man who abseiled down cliff to take peregrine falcon eggs jailed
Newport company fined for the demolition of Bat Roost
Cheshire man sentenced after admitting animal cruelty offences
2,114 seizures of endangered animals and timber in major international law enforcement operation
Natural England prosecutes developer for breaching Bat Mitigation Licence
Vale of Glamorgan man prosecuted for destroying valuable wildlife habitat
Wildlife detectives take part in new Forensics Training programme
PSNI investigate death of two white-tailed eagles
PSNI launch Operation SUBRISION to deter and detect rural and wildlife crime
Lewisham man convicted for illegally exporting ivory
Operation EASTER launched for 2023 - stopping egg thieves and egg collectors
Monmouthshire company fined for damaging an important Great Crested Newt habitat
06 Nov 2012
Posted by greyheron “Two ‘premier league’ bird egg collectors have been fined for stealing hundreds of rare eggs after a two year police investigation to find the culprits. ‘Obsessive’ collectors Marcus Betteridge, 52, and Seymour Crang, 49, built up a unique collection of rare eggs after stealing them from the nests of birds including lesser redpolls, tree pipits […]
Read more → 02 Nov 2012
Posted by greyheron Matthew Gonshaw, a known egg thief from London, was spotted on the island of Rum on 28 May 2011 by an employee of Scottish National Heritage. He was seen walking amongst a gull colony in a remote part of the island, collecting eggs. A number of freshly broken eggshells were later found there.
Read more → 10 Aug 2012
Posted by NWCU2 “FARMERS in Sutton Bridge are delighted Lincolnshire Police is launching its first ever full-time team to combat hare coursing. Five officers and one sergeant start work next month. County police received 1,200 reports of hare coursing in 2011/12 and are confident that number will go down with a team focusing on the crime. Officers will […]
Read more → 25 Jul 2012
Posted by greyheron 
The UK’s contribution to a global Interpol operation targeting the illegal trade in birds has been hailed a success. Operation CAGE was the third operation coordinated by Interpol to target the growing trade in illegal wildlife. The operation saw police, customs and wildlife enforcement authorities in 32 countries carrying out thousands of checks at ports, […]
Read more → 06 Jul 2012
Posted by greyheron “A man from the Forest of Dean has today been charged with a number of wildlife, theft and fraud offences, all related to protected birds. Keith Beaven, 67 and of Staunton near Corse has been charged with a total of 13 offences. These include: Five counts of fraud by misrepresentation Six counts of theft One […]
Read more → 28 Jun 2012
Posted by greyheron “A GOLDEN eagle found dead in Lochaber was poisoned, it has been revealed, as a multi-agency investigation to find the culprit continues. The majestic bird of prey was the third known eagle to have been poisoned in the Morar area in the past 10 years, with two white-tailed eagles previous victims. A post-mortem conducted by […]
Read more → 21 Jun 2012
Posted by greyheron “In Scotland, the Wildlife and Natural Environment Act of 2011, effective from 2012, makes it an offence to “intentionally or recklessly kill, injure or take brown hares [during their breeding season] from 1 February to 30 September (and mountain hares from 1 March to 31 July). Much of mainland Europe and Northern Ireland has similar […]
Read more → 10 May 2012
Posted by greyheron “A man who became the first person in Scotland to be convicted of trading parts of endangered animal species has been given community service. Steven Paterson, 48, had the skull of a pilot whale and the tooth of a sperm whale stored in his home. He also kept and tried to sell two harbour porpoise […]
Read more → 05 May 2012
Posted by NWCU2 “It is suspected that a young golden eagle died after its legs were broken by an illegal trap. On 5 May 2012, the Scottish Agricultural College laboratory in Aberdeen carried out a post-mortem examination. This concluded that the raptor had suffered two broken legs due to trauma “that could be consistent with an injury caused by […]
Read more → 19 Apr 2012
Posted by greyheron “A FARMER has admitted owning a banned pesticide that has killed hundreds of birds in Scotland. Tom McKellar, 50, pled guilty at Oban Sheriff Court to possessing carbofuran, which is so deadly a single grain can kill a bird while just a quarter of a teaspoon could be fatal to humans. Officers investigating the discovery […]
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