There were 108 confirmed incidents of illegal persecution of birds of prey across Britain in 2021, according to the RSPB’s annual bird crime report.
England’s tally of 80 confirmed persecution incidents was the second-highest figure since records began in 1990, after an unprecedented surge in wildlife crime during the pandemic year of 2020. That year, a record 137 known incidents of bird of prey persecution were logged by the RSPB, with lockdowns seemingly creating an increased opportunity to kill raptors without detection.
Although the total fell in 2021, it was still higher than in previous years – with 85 confirmed persecution incidents in 2019, 87 in 2018 and 64 in 2015.
According to the RSPB, more than two-thirds (71%) of all confirmed incidents in 2021 related to land managed for game bird shooting. Birds of prey are persecuted because they are perceived to be a threat to the stocks of pheasants, partridges and red grouse.
“The data in this report clearly show that raptor persecution remains at a sustained high level,” said Mark Thomas, the RSPB’s UK head of investigations. “The illegal shooting, trapping and poisoning of birds of prey has no place in modern society. In a nature and climate emergency, the deliberate destruction of protected species for financial gain is completely devastating and unacceptable.”
The total in 2021 includes 50 buzzards, 16 red kites, seven peregrines and three goshawks.
A mass grave of birds of prey was found down a well on a pheasant shoot in Wiltshire. In Scotland, a golden eagle was found poisoned, lying beside a dead hare laced with the same deadly banned pesticide on a grouse shooting estate. A white-tailed eagle was found in Dorset poisoned with seven times the lethal dose of brodifacoum, a rat poison increasingly found in birds of prey, indicating it is being used to target them.
Two of the worst counties in 2021 were Norfolk (13 incidents) and Dorset (12 incidents), both lowland areas where pheasant and partridge shoots are commonplace.
In upland areas, this year had the best breeding success for hen harriers in England for more than 100 years but GPS satellite tagging continues to reveal suspicious disappearances of young hen harriers. One young bird, Asta, vanished and its government-funded tag was later found inexplicably attached to a dead crow.
A UN assessment of UK wildlife crime requested by the government last year recommended stronger regulation of the shooting industry. The RSPB is calling for the licensing of driven grouse moors to regulate estates where illegal persecution occurs. The Scottish government is consulting on a new law to license grouse moors.
Beccy Speight, the chief executive of the RSPB, said: “The United Nations report makes clear what must be done to end these wildlife crimes and we call on the new government in Westminster and governments around the UK to act and pave the way towards a sustainable future, respectful of the law.”
