 The RSPB’s Birdcrime Report for 2010 was published in November 2011, and alleged to provide a summary of the offences against wildlife legislation that were reported to the RSPB last year. However, since 2009, the Report has not included a total reported figure for all categories of wild bird crime, it being heavily focused on Birds of Prey, a species the RSPB has confirmed it will continue to champion.
The main category of wild bird crime that the RSPB has excluded since 2009 is that against non birds of prey; one that had been rising at an alarming rate. Between 2004 and 2008 there was a 480% increase in reported crimes against non birds of prey, and the figure of 682 reported incidents in 2008 was 115% higher than the 2003 – 2007 average. The reason that the RSPB gave for its exclusion was the need to focus its finite resources on wild bird crime affecting species of high conservation concern. This did not, however, prevent it from including confirmed incidents of persecution against a magpie, crows and various wildfowl in its 2010 report.
Unlike previous Birdcrime Reports where the actual number of confirmed offences was relegated to the appendices, they have now been included within the main body of the report. Reported incidents, the number of which has always been higher, and all too frequently unproven, therefore no longer take the limelight, and it is possible to see where reductions in the number of actual offences have been achieved. This is extremely welcome news, yet something that the RSPB still appears to want to play down.
In 2010 there were a total of 527 reported incidents, compared to 721 in 2009; a reduction of 27%. Of those reported incidents, 227 concerned the supposed shooting and destruction of Birds of Prey, 18% lower than the 277 reported in 2009, and just below the 2005 – 2009 average of 230. However, only 28 (12%) of those incidents in 2010 are shown in the report as having been confirmed.
The 128 cases of wildlife poisoning and pesticide related offences recorded in 2010 is lower than the 153 incidents recorded in 2009, and below the 2005 – 2009 average of 150. In 2010, the figure of 128 also included the poisoning of a dog, 20 crows and 28 various wildfowl by 2 pest control officers in a London Park in March 2010, and without which the total number of cases would have been just 78; a reduction of 49% and very significant improvement.
During 2010, the report lists a total of 49 individuals that were prosecuted for wild bird related offences, including prosecutions taken by the Crown Prosecution Service, Procurators Fiscal and the RSPCA. Of these, 46 were convicted of one or more charge, but only 3 (7%) of those were for raptor persecution, 2 of which were for the shooting of buzzards in Herefordshire. Despite this, the RSPB remains firmly fixated on birds of prey, and claims that illegal persecution of birds of prey is unacceptably common on land managed for intensive grouse shooting, yet with no evidence with which to back up such serious accusations. This continual attack on those with whom it would most benefit from working is nothing but counter-productive.
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