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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/06/bird-of-prey-killers-get-away-hope-legal-changes-hen-harriers-peregrines-buzzards
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| Bird killers are getting away with it. But there’s hope in sight | Bird killers are getting away with it. But there’s hope in sight |
| (5 days later) | |
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| Mon 6 Nov 2017 15.54 GMT | Mon 6 Nov 2017 15.54 GMT |
| Last modified on Wed 14 Feb 2018 17.05 GMT | |
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| We may despair of living in an era where the powerful are getting away with it more than ever before, but hope glimmers in unexpected places. | We may despair of living in an era where the powerful are getting away with it more than ever before, but hope glimmers in unexpected places. |
| A dismal landmark was revealed last week. In 2016, there were 81 confirmed incidents of British bird of prey persecution but, for the first time in decades, there were no prosecutions for these wildlife crimes. | A dismal landmark was revealed last week. In 2016, there were 81 confirmed incidents of British bird of prey persecution but, for the first time in decades, there were no prosecutions for these wildlife crimes. |
| The 81 is an iceberg tip, with many more unconfirmed or undetected shootings, poisonings and trappings of peregrines, buzzards and particularly hen harriers. Despite the ubiquity of camera phones and an increasing number of walkers and nature lovers being aware of illegal killing, prosecutions have slid steadily down, from eight in 2012 to four in 2015. | The 81 is an iceberg tip, with many more unconfirmed or undetected shootings, poisonings and trappings of peregrines, buzzards and particularly hen harriers. Despite the ubiquity of camera phones and an increasing number of walkers and nature lovers being aware of illegal killing, prosecutions have slid steadily down, from eight in 2012 to four in 2015. |
| The RSPB compiled court data of the occupations of the 176 individuals convicted since 1990: 68% were gamekeepers | The RSPB compiled court data of the occupations of the 176 individuals convicted since 1990: 68% were gamekeepers |
| Someone, somewhere, is getting away with it. To give us a clue, the RSPB compiled court data in 2015 of the occupations of the 176 individuals convicted of raptor persecution since 1990: 68% were gamekeepers. Gamekeepers are under pressure to deliver huge quantities of wild red grouse or factory-farmed pheasants to lucrative shoots on private moors or woods where crimes can be committed with impunity. They are also getting away with it because policing and prosecutions are inadequate. North Yorkshire police apart, according to the RSPB, many forces lack expertise or even part-time wildlife crime officers. | Someone, somewhere, is getting away with it. To give us a clue, the RSPB compiled court data in 2015 of the occupations of the 176 individuals convicted of raptor persecution since 1990: 68% were gamekeepers. Gamekeepers are under pressure to deliver huge quantities of wild red grouse or factory-farmed pheasants to lucrative shoots on private moors or woods where crimes can be committed with impunity. They are also getting away with it because policing and prosecutions are inadequate. North Yorkshire police apart, according to the RSPB, many forces lack expertise or even part-time wildlife crime officers. |
| Crown prosecutors don’t help either. In Scotland, extraordinarily, despite the RSPB obtaining video evidence of someone shooting a hen harrier on its nest, prosecutors deemed this evidence inadmissible on the preposterous technicality that people have the right to roam on private land but not to “investigate” crime. | Crown prosecutors don’t help either. In Scotland, extraordinarily, despite the RSPB obtaining video evidence of someone shooting a hen harrier on its nest, prosecutors deemed this evidence inadmissible on the preposterous technicality that people have the right to roam on private land but not to “investigate” crime. |
| No prosecutions presented the shooting community with an opportunity to renew denials of illegality. Instead, Christopher Graffius, acting chief executive of the British Association of Shooting and Conservation (BASC), called for “action by everyone who shoots” against the “criminals among us”. | No prosecutions presented the shooting community with an opportunity to renew denials of illegality. Instead, Christopher Graffius, acting chief executive of the British Association of Shooting and Conservation (BASC), called for “action by everyone who shoots” against the “criminals among us”. |
| BASC’s brave and welcome honesty suggests the game is up. There’s growing momentum for two simple legal changes in England. Vicarious liability would hold landowners responsible for wildlife crime. And licensing shoots would add to that deterrent by ensuring that shoots are put out of business if wildlife crime is committed. These reforms are coming, and smart shooters know it. | BASC’s brave and welcome honesty suggests the game is up. There’s growing momentum for two simple legal changes in England. Vicarious liability would hold landowners responsible for wildlife crime. And licensing shoots would add to that deterrent by ensuring that shoots are put out of business if wildlife crime is committed. These reforms are coming, and smart shooters know it. |
| Planting trees is like kissing babies | Planting trees is like kissing babies |
| Happy 800th birthday to the Forest Charter, which granted commoners rights to use woodland. This force for collective good helped save Epping Forest from development in 1878. | Happy 800th birthday to the Forest Charter, which granted commoners rights to use woodland. This force for collective good helped save Epping Forest from development in 1878. |
| A new Tree Charter launched this week brings alarm over fewer hectares of trees being planted in the past two years than at any point since 1971. | A new Tree Charter launched this week brings alarm over fewer hectares of trees being planted in the past two years than at any point since 1971. |
| We can relax about this statistic. Planting a tree is a feelgood gesture like kissing babies, but new trees aren’t all good: commercial blocks of sitka spruce aren’t socially useful, scenic or wildlife-friendly. And the aftermath of the great storm of 87 shows it’s often more wildlife-friendly to let trees seed themselves. | We can relax about this statistic. Planting a tree is a feelgood gesture like kissing babies, but new trees aren’t all good: commercial blocks of sitka spruce aren’t socially useful, scenic or wildlife-friendly. And the aftermath of the great storm of 87 shows it’s often more wildlife-friendly to let trees seed themselves. |
| The one stat we must worry about is that, according to the Woodland Trust, a record 780 ancient woods are threatened by new homes, quarries, golf courses and transport – and particularly by HS2. The government prefers to trumpet its “new network of forests across the country”. What’s really needed is proper planning protection for the irreplaceable ancient fragments we’ve got left. | The one stat we must worry about is that, according to the Woodland Trust, a record 780 ancient woods are threatened by new homes, quarries, golf courses and transport – and particularly by HS2. The government prefers to trumpet its “new network of forests across the country”. What’s really needed is proper planning protection for the irreplaceable ancient fragments we’ve got left. |
| Global warming’s truffling benefits | Global warming’s truffling benefits |
| An oak planted in 2008 in Wales brings news of an upside to global warming in the week of the Bonn climate talks. A Périgord black truffle has been sniffed out beneath a Monmouthshire sapling, the first time this prized delicacy has been cultivated so far north. Truffles are a fine accompaniment to the English sparkling wine with which we can now toast the cooking of the planet. | An oak planted in 2008 in Wales brings news of an upside to global warming in the week of the Bonn climate talks. A Périgord black truffle has been sniffed out beneath a Monmouthshire sapling, the first time this prized delicacy has been cultivated so far north. Truffles are a fine accompaniment to the English sparkling wine with which we can now toast the cooking of the planet. |
| • Patrick Barkham is a natural history writer for the Guardian and the author of Islander, The Butterfly Isles, and Badgerlands | • Patrick Barkham is a natural history writer for the Guardian and the author of Islander, The Butterfly Isles, and Badgerlands |
| Birds | Birds |
| Notebook | Notebook |
| Crime | Crime |
| Wildlife | Wildlife |
| Trees and forests | Trees and forests |
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