Tadcaster police and the RSPB are appealing for information after a Red Kite was poisoned in the area. The bird was found at Toulston Polo Ground, Tadcaster in October 2012, by a member of the public who contacted Yorkshire Red Kites, who in turn reported the suspected poisoning to North Yorkshire Police.

Following a post-mortem examination and forensic testing it was found to have
died from the illegal poison Carbofuran, which was banned in 2001. The RSPB have offered a £1,000 reward for anyone who can provide information that leads to the arrest and charging of those responsible for the bird's death.

Between 2002 and 2011, there were 292 confirmed cases of birds of prey being
killed by Carbofuran poisoning in England. PC Sarah Ward of Tadcaster Safer
Neighbourhood Team said: "This crime is appalling. The use of Carbofuran is both
unlawful and highly dangerous. It is highly toxic and a few granules could kill.
Someone has put Carbofuran into the countryside unlawfully, risking the lives of
people, domesticated animals and wildlife. I urge anyone with information to
contact the police or RSPB immediately."

The Red Kite that died was hatched in Wales in 2009 and is believed to be one
of a breeding pair that first bred at Tadcaster Grammar School in 2012. They are
the first-known Welsh-born Red Kites to have bred in Yorkshire.

 Bob Elliot, RSPB Head of Investigations, said: "Since their successful
release back into the Yorkshire countryside in 1999, Red Kites have suffered at
the hands of illegal poisoning in North Yorkshire with this incident being the
twentieth poisoned Kite since 2000." Mr Elliot added: "Birds of prey are still
being targeted by those intent on killing our most protected species and it is
simply not acceptable to still be finding poisoned, trapped and shot raptors in
our countryside."

 Doug Simpson, Yorkshire Red Kites Coordinator, said: "The loss of any bird
through illegal poisoning is a big disappointment. It is particularly
disappointing in this case, with this kite being of Welsh origin and the first
from that source known to have bred in Yorkshire."

 Anyone who can help to identify those responsible for this poisoning should
contact Tadcaster police on 101, select option 2 and ask for Sarah Ward. You can
also contact the RSPB on 0845 4663636 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800
555111.

The Scottish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is appealing
  for information after a Red Kite was found with severe injuries in South
  Lanarkshire, having been shot, while the RSPB in Northern Ireland is calling
for  witnesses after a dead bird was discovered in the Castlewellan area on 14
  August.
Scotland's animal welfare charity was alerted on 8 August when a
  member of the public discovered the bird in the village of Leadhills.
  Unfortunately, the juvenile female Red Kite was suffering to such an extent
that  the kindest and only humane option was to put it to sleep. Post-mortem
results  confirmed that the bird was shot.
Chief Superintendent Mike Flynn said:  “This bird was caused a great deal of pain and suffering as a result of being  shot. Sadly, she was so badly injured that she would not have been able to make  a recovery.
"As well as being cruel, injuring a wild
bird is a criminal  offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 and we
are very keen to  speak to anyone who has information about this
incident.”
Anyone with  information is being urged to contact the
Scottish SPCA Animal Helpline on 03000  999 999. Calls are treated in the
strictest confidence and information can be  left anonymously.
The bird in Co Down is the fourth killed there this  year, representing 30 per cent of the total breeding population in the province.  The bird's body has been
submitted to the Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute  for a post-mortem. 
It is strongly suspected that it, and the other birds, fell  victim to
poison.
Of the four deceased birds, two were breeding males,  one was a
breeding female and one was a juvenile. Sadly, the female was found  dead in the
nest where she was incubating two eggs, meaning the chicks inside  also
perished.
Adam McClure, Red Kite Officer for the RSPB, said: All  birds
of prey are protected under the law, but unfortunately this doesn’t always  mean
that they are safe from poison.
“We do not know what caused the  deaths
of these four birds as yet and are eagerly awaiting the post-mortem  results
dating back as far as January. However we suspect that they did not die  of
natural causes.”
Anyone who has information about the deaths of the
  birds is asked to contact the Police Service of Northern Ireland on 0845 600
  8000 or anonymously through Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Red Kites were  once ubiquitous across Britain, but were hunted almost to their total loss as a  breeding species, with just a handful of pairs left in South Wales by the 20th  century. Successful reintroduction programmes have seen numbers increase across  England and Scotland, but the species still suffers from persecution and remains  vulnerable in Northern Ireland.

Following a near miss at its international airport, Marseille authorities gave the go-ahead to destroy a flock of Little Bustards.

On 25 June, the prefect of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (PACA) region, authorized the shooting of up to 50 Little Bustards at Marseille Provence Airport because of the risk to aviation safety. This decision followed the narrow avoidance of what was considered a potentially serious accident on May 31 involving an Airbus A320. A large flock of the bustards was then present on the site.

Little Bustard is listed as Near Threatened by BirdLife International due to a decline in its global population, resulting from the loss of natural dry grassland and traditional low-intensity cultivation in favour of intensive arable farming. The large, open grassy spaces of airports are consequently potentially attractive to bustards, and Marseilles Provence Airport is already known as a productive site for them.

In response to this decision, the LPO (BirdLife partner in France) sent a letter to the state representative to find a quick solution to the potential bird-strike problem, without destroying any more individuals of a declining bird that is the subject of a conservation National Action Plan in France. The LPO consider the destruction of the birds to have been illegal, as the species is protected under French and EU law.

The LPO also organised a meeting on 27 June to discuss the framework of the Little Bustard National Action Plan, bringing together governmental bodies and regional coordinators for PACA and the adjacent Languedoc-Roussillon region. At this meeting, LPO proposed a short- and medium-term action plan to prevent radical solutions like the shooting of the birds from happening again.

Allain Bougrain Dubourg, President of LPO, met the Secretary General of the Prefecture of the Bouches-du-Rhône, who ensured the immediate suspension of the shooting. Thirty-eight bustards were, however, already killed in those few days, even though they were in the process of breeding. Following another meeting on Tuesday, 2 July 2013, the Secretary General confirmed the repeal of the decree.

LPO has stated that it applauds this decision, but will remain vigilant on the status of Little Bustards at southern French airports. In the meantime, it will lead a working group under the NAP, in conjunction with all parties concerned to prevention risk to aviation safety.

RSPB Scotland are appealing for information after a Black-throated Diver, one of Scotland's rarest birds, was found dead on the shore of Loch Gowan, near Achnasheen (Highland). The bird was discovered by local biologist Jim Raffell and was reported to the RSPB.

A post-mortem, carried out by Scottish Agricultural College vets on behalf of the nature charity, revealed that the bird had been shot by a "high-velocity projectile". Police enquiries have been unable to identify a suspect. The Black-throated Diver breeds on freshwater lochs, wintering at sea. It is a very rare breeding species in the UK, with the population (of around 240 pairs) confined to the north and west of Scotland. They are known particularly for their elegant summer plumage, haunting calls and their tendency to mate for life. This bird killed is believed to have been one of a breeding pair.

A spokesman for RSPB Scotland said: "This is an appalling and inexcusable crime. Black-throated Divers are stunning and very rare birds, with their UK stronghold in the Highlands of Scotland. It is truly shocking that one of these birds has been deliberately targeted, with a complete disregard for both the law and the rarity of this species."

Mr Raffell, a fisheries biologist with the Scottish Government, added: "To find a dead Black-throated Diver is very sad, but to then be informed that that it had been shot caused me much upset and made me very angry. How any person could deliberately shoot such a beautiful, enigmatic and uncontroversial bird is outrageous. I hope that by raising awareness of this crime, it will never be repeated."

The news comes hot on the heels of a press release, issued last week by RSPB Scotland, that demonstrated how artificial rafts covered in vegetation were helping to raise the breeding population. Since tethered rafts were introduced to lochs in the late 1980s, RSPB Scotland said numbers of breeding pairs had risen from 180 to 240 in 2012. You can read more on that story on the Birdwatch website.

Anyone who may have any information relating to this incident is asked to contact Police Scotland on 101, or RSPB Scotland on 0131 317 4100.

On Monday 8th July, Colin Burne, of Winters Park, Penrith, pleaded guilty to the intentional killing of Buzzards on land managed by a private shooting syndicate in Whinfell Forest, near Penrith (Cumbria). The 64-year-old gamekeeper attended Carlisle Magistrates Court, where he pleaded guilty to three charges. These related to the killing of two Buzzards on 11th February 2013, killing five Buzzards before this date and possession of a wooden stick as an item capable of being used to kill the birds. He received a 70-day jail sentence, concurrent on each charge, suspended for 12 months. In sentencing, the judge stated that had it not been for his ill health he would have considered jailing him.

On Monday 11th February 2013, a cage trap containing live Buzzards was found by members of the public on land managed by the shoot. Cage traps can lawfully be used to control certain crow species, but any non-target species that become accidentally caught, such as Buzzards and other birds of prey, must be released unharmed. The next day RSPB Investigations Officers set up a covert camera near the trap site. When the footage was retrieved it showed Colin Burne entering the trap and intentionally killing two buzzards by beating them to death with a wooden stick.

Bob Elliot, Head of RSPB Investigations, said: "After we retrieved the footage and played it back, we were surprised at the openness with which Burne had killed the birds. Buzzards were given full legal protection in 1954 — six years after Burne was born — but he calmly dispatched the birds as though it was a routine operation, rather than an illegal act killing a protected species."

A search of the trap site by officers from Cumbria Constabulary and the RSPB revealed the presence of the remains of many other Buzzards, showing that the killing of these birds at this site had become a regular practice. Burne admitted to the killing of five of these birds. Mr Elliot added, "Buzzards are magnificent birds and their presence in the countryside brings pleasure to many people. This case confirms the urgent need to tighten up the use of crow cage traps to ensure that protected species, such as Buzzards, are not routinely killed."

PC Helen Felton, who led the investigation for Cumbria Constabulary, commented: "This was a despicable crime in which someone who was in a position of trust as a gamekeeper trapped Buzzards and then later came back to kill them. From what was found nearby, it was clear that this practice had been taking place for some time. The sentence that has been given today highlights how wildlife crime is not tolerated in Cumbria. Those people who believe they can kill protected species will be brought to justice."

BirdGuides is dedicated to supporting the RSPB investigations team, and one of our news team played a small but important role in the Cumbrian case, putting the member of the public directly in touch with the RSPB. We're pleased to be able to play a part in reducing the persecution of our native birds and strongly recommend noting the RSPB investigations team contact details. To report a case of persecution, you can email [email protected].

Despite a public outcry about the proposed culling of Common Buzzards, Natural England has secretly enabled a shooting estate to destroy their eggs this spring.

Last year, an unscientific and unpopular attempt by DEFRA to allow Common Buzzard to be culled by destroying the species' eggs and nests at taxpayers' expense was thwarted by a public outcry partly led by Birdwatch. However, it has been revealed, via a Freedom of Information Request by the RSPB, that the National Gamekeepers Organisation approached Natural England (NE) for a licence to carry out such egg destruction on an unnamed Pheasant shooting estate, and that this has covertly gone ahead.

NE granted the licence but kept the application and permission secret, and the egg and nest destruction was apparently performed earlier this spring. It appears that NE gave in under threat of a judicial review and quietly granted the licences, a move unprecedented since raptor protection was introduced in law some decades ago. The legality of the licensing is currently in question and certainly not in the spirit of the law, but a DEFRA spokesperson claimed, in support of NE, that: "after a thorough assessment, Natural England granted a licence for the removal of a small number of buzzard nests. Buzzard populations are thriving in the UK and this licensed action had no effect on their population."

The RSPB, which has been attempting to work in a collaborative way with all parties concerned after promises by wildlife minister Richard Benyon that there would be "new proposals", is understandably peeved and will be looking into legal methods of redress. As no more than 2 per cent of Pheasant poults are lost to birds of prey (compared to the roughly 30 per cent killed by road traffic), a cull of buzzards would seem pointless and even belligerent.

NE themselves have admitted that investigations into non-lethal methods of keeping buzzards away from Pheasants have been "employed inconsistently", and that the efficacy of egg and nest destruction was also untested.

With this new development, and the inability of NE to prevent the ecologically destructive burning of peat on grouse moors recently, the growing public perception of the government as acting in favour of shooting estates and being environmentally unsound can only be further increased.

And an even worse, long-term case has been exposed.

Lesser Black-backed Gull is an Amber-listed species of conservation concern, of which 40 per cent of its world population breeds in Britain – in fact, Larus fuscus graellsii is a near-endemic subspecies of Lesser Black-backed gull found mostly in the British Isles and the adjacent continental seaboard. A rapid decline in numbers in recent years has led to the RSPB and other conservation organisations under the umbrella of the Joint Nature Conservation Committee  to consider its population in the Forest of Bowland – which comprises 10 per cent of the total – to be worthy of protection as the colonies there are of international importance.

A Freedom of Information request by The Guardian newspaper has revealed that one particular shooting estate has not been toeing the line, with NE's full knowledge.  Despite the species' well-known status among conservationists, NE has been allowing an annual cull of Lesser Black-backed Gull on the 23,500-acre Abbeystead Estate in the Lancashire fells, which has killed up to 10,000 birds per year by poisoning, cannon-netting, gas gun, falconry and straightforward shooting. 

Though initially and apparently legally allowed since the 1970s for the purposes of maintaining a clean water supply, the cull has continued right up to the present day, despite the change in the gull species' conservation fortunes and the last licence being issued in 1999. A former Abbeystead gull surveyor has said in The Guardian that the culling takes place to protect the "economy of the shooting estates" – of which Abbeystead is one – as it has been known to eat the eggs of Red Grouse.

The gullery at Bowland Fells has held up to 18,080 nests at its peak, but numbers have fallen rapidly, being down to around 1,000 at Abbeystead itself. NE claim that despite the gull being declared endangered and Bowland  being named as a Special Protection Area (SPA), the SPA document for Bowland has not been updated and that is why the cull had been allowed to continue. The area already has a bad reputation for thepersecution of Hen Harriers and other birds of prey.  

Clearly NE, which claims its "purpose is to protect and improve England’s natural environment and encourage people to enjoy and get involved in their surroundings", does not mind appearing as the stooge of landed shooting interests. The British people must be wondering what other skeletons are hanging in the public body's closet. 

Burning patches of peatland to encourage Red Grouse alters the UK's upland stream ecosystems, scientists say. The study, published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, says an influx of material from burnt peatlands affects water quality in some upland streams which, in turn, affects their biodiversity.

Dr Sorain Ramchunder, who led the study, said "In streams where burning has taken place nearby, higher sediment and organic carbon levels are associated with a decline in mayflies, stoneflies and other macro-invertebrate species...macro-invertebrates are an important part of the freshwater community. They are a good indicator of how clean the water is, and of the general health of the ecosystem."

Grouse shooting is an important part of the upland economy, pulling in an estimated £190 million every year. Older grouse prefer to shelter in taller heather, while the young feed on fresh shoots. To create a mosaic of habitats to suit those needs, landowners routinely burn patches of vegetation, while leaving others to mature. Previous studies had focussed on the effect of burning on peatland carbon stores, amid fears that the practice might release long-stored carbon into rivers and the atmosphere, inflating the costs of cleaning water for use from the tap, and exacerbating climate change.

This study is the first to look at the effect of burning on stream health. Ramchunder and collaborators at the University of Leeds analysed water and macro-invertebrate samples from ten sites. Five were affected by burning, while the other five remained unburned. In burnt catchments, they found higher levels of material being washed into the streams from the surrounding land. This, says Ramchunder, is not only damaging stream ecosystems, but could also have effects on birds that come to the river to feed on invertebrates.

But Ramchunder is anxious that any new measures to control burning take the economic needs of the uplands into account, claiming that "Any regulation needs to be done with sensitivity, because grouse management is an important source of income in the UK uplands...but the health of the ecosystem can have important economic implications too. The increasing cost of cleaning the water is just one example of this."

Co-authors Dr Lee Brown and Professor Joseph Holden are now finalising the NERC-funded EMBER project, examining the effects of burning on soil hydrology and chemistry as well as taking a more in-depth look at river chemistry and macroinvertebrates.

Peatlands cover about 3% of the Earth's surface and burning is common. In the tropics, local populations often rely on 'slash and burn' agriculture, where peatland is burned to make way for food crops. A recent study showed that the destruction of tropical peatland forests was causing them to haemorrhage carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, raising concerns about their potential contribution to climate change.