RSPB Report Reveals Continued Illegal Persecution of Britain’s Birds of Prey

Despite decades of statutory protection, Britain’s most vulnerable birds of prey continue to face illegal killing through shooting, trapping, and poisoning, according to a new report from the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB). To be released on Wednesday, the charity’s findings document 921 confirmed incidents of harassment between 2015 and 2024. The RSPB notes that over half of these attacks occurred on or adjacent to estates managed specifically for game shooting.

Mark Thomas, who leads the RSPB’s investigations unit, described the motive behind these killings as financial, explaining that predators are targeted to prevent them from hunting young pheasants, partridges, and grouse, thereby ensuring more birds remain available for paying customers. While shooting organizations vehemently deny that such persecution is endemic to the industry—asserting it is the work of a small minority that they condemn— the RSPB is urging the government to implement a licensing system for gamebird shooting in England and Wales. The charity argues that estates should face stricter penalties when protected species are killed on their grounds.

The species under threat include barn owls, goshawks, hen harriers, peregrine falcons, red kites, and eagles. The RSPB maintains a high threshold for its data, classifying incidents as "confirmed" only when supported by video footage, eyewitness accounts, or forensic evidence. Its specialized investigations team, composed of former police officers and ornithologists, focuses on identifying suspects. This year alone, evidence gathered by the unit, including covert camera recordings, has led to three convictions.

Two of these convictions involved animals that were beaten to death after being caught in traps. While live-capture traps are legally permitted for controlling pests like pigeons and crows, regulations require them to be checked regularly so that non-target species can be released safely. The third conviction stemmed from covert surveillance at a hen harrier roost in the Yorkshire Dales, where investigators documented a planned attempt to kill one of the UK’s rarest birds of prey.

RSPB footage captured head gamekeeper Racster Dingwall arriving at the site with a shotgun, while hidden audio recorded conversations about killing other protected birds and the potential satellite-tagging of a harrier. Dingwall subsequently admitted to offenses related to the attempt to kill a protected hen harrier and was fined £1,520.

Although the RSPB acknowledges a recent decline in recorded incidents, it contends that criminal prosecutions alone are insufficient to solve the long-term problem. The organization is advocating for a licensing regime similar to that currently in place for red grouse shooting in Scotland. Under this proposal, licenses could be suspended or revoked based on the civil standard of proof, even in cases where criminal prosecution is not feasible.

Shooting groups oppose these measures. Dr. Marnie Lovejoy of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) told the BBC that the focus should remain on strengthening law enforcement to prosecute individuals committing crimes, stating that such actions have no place in the modern shooting community. She argued that licensing would impose unnecessary additional regulation on an industry already governed by law and penalize responsible estates, potentially jeopardizing conservation efforts. BASC estimates that the sector contributes significantly to nature recovery, spending approximately £500 million annually on conservation, which supports the equivalent of 26,000 full-time jobs and 14 million workdays.

The government has not endorsed the RSPB’s licensing proposal but has committed to collaborating with the shooting sector and other stakeholders to explore broader measures, including licensing. A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) stated, "Many estates already meet high environmental standards, and we want all estates to achieve these same high standards."

Professor Davy McCracken from Scotland’s Rural College, who has spent 35 years researching upland management and wildlife, suggests that the conflict between bird of prey conservation and grouse shooting is fundamentally economic at its core.

Source: BBC News Generated at: 2026-05-25 23:35:26 UTC