FIRECREST TOURS : Guided Birdwatching & Wildlife Days

From East Anglian Daily Times (26 Feb 2018) INVESTIGATION AFTER AT LEAST ONE BUZZARD FOUND DEAD IN SUFFOLK WOODLAND Police are investigating the shooting of at least one Common buzzard – a legally protected bird of prey – that was found dead in a Suffolk wood. Two buzzard corpses were reported to Suffolk Constabulary’s wildlife […] Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2owJLO8

Press release from North Yorkshire Police: APPEAL FOR INFORMATION AFTER SPARROWHAWK FOUND SHOT NEAR KNARESBOROUGH Police are appealing for information after a sparrowhawk was found shot near Knaresborough. The dead female sparrowhawk was found by a member of the public north of the village of Nidd, between Knaresborough and Ripley, with a fresh, bloodied injury, […] Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2GTy374

A grouse moor gamekeeper appeared at Lancaster Magistrates Court this morning to face a series of charges linked to alleged wildlife crime. Timothy David Cowin, 44, is alleged to have shot two protected short-eared owls in April 2017 at Whernside, Cumbria in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. It is further alleged he was in possession […] Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2EYBRrb

Do you want to see justice for Hen harriers? Do you oppose DEFRA’s outrageous Hen harrier brood meddling scheme? Do you want to support a legal challenge against the brood meddling licence that Natural England has recently issued? Here’s how you can help. #justice4henharriers Advertisements Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2sVjw8u

Press release from Edinburgh Green Party: Edinburgh Green councillors have called on the City Council to take action following the suspicious disappearance of Fred the Golden Eagle from the Pentlands in January. The council’s environment committee will consider a motion on Thursday 1 March from Green councillor Chas Booth to raise the issue with the Scottish […] Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2EQXysP

Ten days ago we published a video about the highly suspicious disappearance of Fred, one of our satellite-tagged golden eagles. The video included a number of interviews that had to be edited due to time contraints in the original film. One of those interviews was Chris Packham talking with Ian Thomson (Head of Investigations, RSPB Scoland) about […] Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2GIPCGM

From ITV News: A buzzard which was found illegally shot near Powys has prompted concern by the RSPB and police. The bird was found dead on the ground by a walker near Llanrhaeadr-ym-mochnant on 10 February, and it was reported to the police. The bird was X-rayed by a local vet and found to contain […] Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2sLdlnm

Last week we published a video about the highly suspicious disappearance of Fred, one of our satellite-tagged golden eagles. The video included a number of interviews that had to be edited due to time contraints in the original video. One of those interviews was Chris Packham talking with Environment Cabinet Secretary Roseanna Cunningham about her […] Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2FpgUma

Many thanks to Alison Johnstone MSP for raising the issue of Golden eagle Fred’s highly suspicious disappearance, at First Minister’s Questions in the Scottish Parliamentary chamber this lunchtime. Here’s what Alison said, and First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s response: Alison Johnstone (Lothian) (Green): In 2017, a rare and beautiful young golden eagle was raised in the […] Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2oiisqO

The highly suspicious disappearance of our golden eagle Fred continues to make the news. The Scottish Gamekeepers Association has issued the following press release today: GAMEKEEPERS SEEK END TO ‘TRIAL BY MEDIA’ OVER EAGLE. The Scottish Gamekeepers Association has called for an end to the ‘trial by media’ over a golden eagle which has gone […] Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2Fn9qjs

A Scottish gamekeeper has been banned from keeping birds of prey for 10 years after keeping an eagle owl in a cramped pigsty. The large owl was discovered by SSPCA investigators last summer. This week gamekeeper Alan Wilson admitted failing to protect the bird from suffering when he appeared at Jedburgh Sheriff Court. The court heard […] Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2C8lzdj

The rumour mill about our satellite-tagged golden eagle Fred has been in full-on overdrive since we announced his highly suspicious disappearance last week. As we’d promised at the start of this project, we set out to provide as much transparency as we could about the circumstances of Fred’s disappearance, including detailed information about his last […] Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2BF6fnh

Last week we blogged about the suspicious disappearance of one of our satellite-tagged golden eagles. ‘Fred’ vanished in the Pentland Hills close to Edinburgh in late January and then 3.5 days later his satellite tag indicated that he (or at least his tag) was in the North Sea, some 15 miles offshore from St Andrews […] Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2oiNxcR

RSPB press release: RSPB APPEALS TO SHOOTING INDUSTRY TO HELP ROOT OUT RAPTOR KILLERS The RSPB has launched a confidential ‘Raptor Crime Hotline’ (0300 999 0101) to help whistle-blowers within the shooting industry come forward with information about bird of prey persecution. The link between driven grouse shooting and the illegal killing of birds of […] Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2FeyusZ

Earlier this week we were invited to talk at an event in London about illegal raptor persecution in the UK. The event was the LUSH Summit, organised and hosted by LUSH, and was designed to showcase the work of many activists and campaigners from around the world who receive help and support from this extraordinary […] Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2ECuZuY

How about this for proper, proactive, genuine partnership working to tackle illegal raptor killing in North Yorkshire, one of the UK’s most prolific raptor persecution hotspots. This is really encouraging. There’s no obsfuscation here, just a clear acknowledgement that raptors are still being illegally killed in North Yorkshire and an equally clear intention from all […] Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2szlF9P

Last summer, in partnership with Chris Packham, we satellite tagged a shedload of golden eagles in Scotland (see here for project details). We haven’t blogged much about these eagles since then because they’ve been hanging around in their parents’ territories and those locations need to remain secret. However, in mid-January 2018, one of those young […] Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2Hhmw2f

In January we blogged about a number of Parliamentary questions lodged by Colin Smyth MSP relating to the Government’s grouse moor management review group and mountain hare culling. Written responses are as follows: S5W-14019: Colin Smyth (Scottish Labour, South Scotland) Date lodged: 23/1/2018 To ask the Scottish Government, further to its announcement on 24 November 2017, […] Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2Erhq5F

At the end of January we blogged about a shocking display of arrogance and abuse of position in an attempt to shield raptor killers in the Peak District National Park (see here). We’d been sent a copy of an email, purportedly written by the then Moorland Association representative in the Peak District, addressed to a […] Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2BhlDpV

Thanks to Mr Carbo for submitting this cartoon in response to King of Bollocks Ian Botham’s idiotic suggestion that gamekeepers should be put in charge of RSPB reserves. Advertisements Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2FU3cGO

A barn owl with horrific injuries has been found near Marishes in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire. According to expert raptor rehabilitator Jean Thorpe, the barn owl was found close to death. It had suffered two broken legs and its injuries were consistent with having been caught in a spring trap. Jean believes the […] Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2nN3qIi

Our marvellous ‘guardians of the countryside’ have been at it again, this time in West Yorkshire. Thanks to the blog reader who sent in these photos of shot dumped pheasants and red-legged partridge, found by a dog walker in Micklefield, West Yorkshire at the weekend. Even though this is against the Code of Good Shooting […] Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2GSmtd3

Late last year we blogged about the significant spread of disease on intensively-managed driven grouse moors in northern England (see here) following the publication of two scientific research papers from the GWCT. The disease, respiratory cryptosporidiosis (also known as ‘Bulgy Eye’) has been, until recently, almost entirely associated with captive poultry flocks that have been […] Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2GQCIY4

Ian Botham, the current King of Bollocks, seems determined to hang on to his title for another year. Here is his entry for this year’s competition. George & Zippy, Directors of Botham’s campaign group You Forgot the Birds, said: “We can only apologise. We know he’s been churning out the same old unsubstantiated guff for […] Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2nD35Zn

In August 2017 we blogged about how a marsh harrier nest on Denton Moor in Nidderdale, Yorkshire had been repeatedly attacked by armed men dressed as gamekeepers (see here). The adult harriers had been shot at and the eggs had been removed from the nest during a series of visits in May 2017, all caught […] Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2E1fMDE

Last Thursday, at the invitation of Andy Wightman MSP (Scottish Greens), several conservationists attended the Scottish Parliament for a meeting to discuss illegal raptor persecution with Andy and some of his parliamentary colleagues. It was our privilege to be invited and we are grateful to Andy for the opportunity to contribute to what turned out […] Read in full at Raptor Persecution UK http://ift.tt/2BQQu9w