Man convicted of killing 15 birds, including raptors, in Dumfries and Galloway

5th April 2023 A 67-year-old man has been convicted of killing raptors and other wild birds in Dumfries and Galloway. Barry Nicolle appeared at Dumfries Sheriff Court where he admitted the charges to killing the birds, which included five red kites. Police had discovered that the birds had not died naturally and had in fact …

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Highland gamekeeper fined after blasting protected sparrowhawk with shotgun

31st March 2023 Rory Parker was video-recorded as he fired twice at the protected bird of prey before it plummeted to the ground. Rory Parker was caught on camera as he fired two shots into the air before the protected bird of prey plummeted to the ground. The wildlife charity RSPB Scotland video-recorded the incident …

Criminal Dorset gamekeeper Paul Allen receives suspended custodial sentence

16th February 2023 BREAKING NEWS….. Further to this morning’s blog (here), criminal gamekeeper Paul Allen, 54, of Baileys Hill, in Brockington, near Wimborne, has been given a suspended custodial sentence and a small fine after he pleaded guilty to multiple wildlife, poisons and firearms offences whilst working on the Shaftesbury Estate in Dorset in March …

CCTV appeal after suspected killing of an owl ‘using catapults’ in Swale

9th January 2023 Kent Police’s Rural Task Force is investigating the suspected killing of a tawny owl in Upchurch. The incident is believed to have happened in October 2022 and officers have recently come into possession of images of two men they would like to speak to. Police Sergeant Darren Walshaw said: "We suspect an …

Earl of Shaftesbury’s former head gamekeeper ‘caught with poisons while burning buzzards’

4th January 2023 The former head gamekeeper at the Earl of Shaftesbury’s country estate was found in possession of illegal poisons while burning the bodies of protected birds of prey, a court has heard. Paul Allen was discovered with nine dead buzzards and a stash of cyanide and strychnine, when police searched his property in …

Gamekeeper shot and poisoned birds of prey at national nature reserves

5th October 2022 A gamekeeper has admitted illegally shooting and poisoning birds of prey at internationally important wildlife sites. Matthew Stroud, 46, from Fengate at Weeting, near Thetford, dosed dead pheasants with poison as bait to kill buzzards in woodlands near Weeting Heath and Breckland Forest, which are both protected sites. Appearing at Norwich Magistrates …

Officials warned of ‘serious wildlife incidents’ at Queen’s Sandringham estate

15th July 2022 Exclusive: Dozens of laws protect Queen’s private estates from investigators – but documents reveal allegations of wildlife crime A Guardian investigation has revealed that dozens of UK laws stipulate that police are barred from entering any of the Queen’s private estates to investigate crimes. On a pleasant autumn evening in 2007, a …

Wicklow farmer convicted after ‘astonishing amount of poison’ found in dead birds

13th July 2022 A Co Wicklow farmer has been convicted and fined after large amounts of poison were found in dead protected birds. Christopher Thomas Noel Doyle, also known as Noel Doyle Senior, with an address of Crehelp, Co. Wicklow, was before Carlow District Court charged with a breach of the Birds and Natural Habitats …

Another gamekeeper convicted for poison offences on a pheasant shoot

13th June 2022 David Matthews, a gamekeeper with 50 years experience, has been convicted at Wrexham Magistrates Court for poison offences uncovered on the McAlpine Estate in Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog, North Wales, where he has worked for 25 years. In February 2021 a dead red kite was found on the estate by a member of …

Gamekeeper caught with illegally killed birds on Wiltshire farm

It is said to be England's largest raptor persecution case 2nd June 2022 A Wiltshire man was caught with a number deceased red kites, buzzards and herrings at a farm in Pewsey, a court heard. Archie Watson, 21, of Dragon Lane, Manningford Bruce in Pewsey was employed as a gamekeeper on the farm and previously …