Feathers are flying in the bird world. Potential changes to the law, following a campaign by pigeon fanciers to reduce attacks on their pets by raptors, have met with opposition from the RSPB. The Raptor Alliance, a body representing many of the UK’s 42,000 pigeon owners, is writing to MPs warning that an “iconic traditional […]
Tag: Sparrowhawk
Highlights from this year’s Spring Tour on The Strait of Gibraltar – April 2015
Here’s a quick photo summary of some of the birds we watched down in Andalucia on one of my spring birdwatching tours. Each spring we offer such small tour group holidays to go out in the field and see what bird species are arriving from Africa. The close proximity of the two continents makes this […]
Gamekeeper sentenced for poisoning birds as judge warns landowners
A judge has warned Britain’s rural aristocracy that they must take responsibility for the actions of their employees after a gamekeeper was sentenced for poisoning birds of prey. The RSPB described the killing of 11 birds of prey by Allen Lambert, former gamekeeper at the Stody estate near Holt in Norfolk, as the worst case […]
Melanistic Montagu’s Harrier and other Raptors
Here are some of the raptor photos we managed to see with my Swiss group from Arcatour last week. The wind direction swung around to give us moderate to strong Levante (easterlies) for five days and only died down on our last two days. Still, knowing what the migrating raptors do and where they will […]
Gamekeeper found guilty of poisoning 10 buzzards and a sparrowhawk
A gamekeeper found with a bag of nine dead buzzards on a pheasant-shooting estate has been found guilty of intentionally killing a protected species in what is England’s worst recorded case of poisoning birds of prey. Allen Lambert, gamekeeper for 24 years at the Stody Estate in Norfolk, will be sentenced next month after being […]
Chris Packham cuckoo reveals migration secrets
A cuckoo wearing a solar-powered satellite-tracked tag is the first to provide UK scientists with migration data for three years running. Having flown more than 45,000 miles Chris, named after wildlife presenter Chris Packham, revealed overwintering in Angola for the first time. The four-year-old returned to the Norfolk/Suffolk border on Friday, said the British Trust […]
Petition: Save British Birds of Prey
Britain’s rarest birds of prey, including red kites, sparrowhawks and peregrine falcons, are being shot, trapped and poisoned in record numbers. This persecution might be completely illegal, but inadequate legislation in England makes it easy for gamekeepers to massacre any nuisance, real or imagined. The birds are being slaughtered because of a perceived threat to […]
Illegal bird deaths continue to rise in UK
Cases of the illegal persecution of British birds are continuing to rise, according to the latest figures from the RSPB. The Birdcrime report, published on Friday, shows there were 208 reports of the shooting and destruction of birds of prey in 2012, including confirmed shootings of 15 buzzards, five sparrowhawks and four peregrine falcons. In […]