Bird flu in wild birds in UK 2016-2026

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has published positive cases of bird flu in wild birds since the last two weeks of December 2016. These figures used to be updated weekly but updates are now less regular – click here.  Positive cases are dead birds sent in to the authorities in each of…

Sunday book review – The Peregrine Thief by Alan Stewart

This is the final book in Alan Stewart’s trilogy of the exploits of Detective Sergeant Bob McKay – see reviews of Calls from the Wild and Cruel Intentions. The author wrote several non-fiction books (eg Killing by Proxy) about wildlife crime  before turning to the freedom that fiction gives an author to fill in the…

No Peregrines taken for ‘falconry’ this year – NE say

Last year you may remember that there was a furore over Natural England issuing licences for falconers to take a small number of Wild Peregrine chicks into captivity for captive breeding; See: 16 April: Natural England issues licences to take Peregrines from the wild where this blog broke the news that Natural England had issued…

Peregrine by Brian Leecy

This is a great image of one of three young Peregrines from a brood somewhere in the north of England. It’s an image to keep in mind when considering the controversy over Natural England’s licensing of removal of Peregrine chicks from nests for the purposes of ‘falconry’. Previous blogs on this controversy: 16 April: Natural…

Guest blog – Peregrines and licences by Bob Elliot

Bob was the head of the investigations and species protection team for the RSPB for 14 years, fighting wildlife crime both in the UK and internationally. He is now the Director for OneKind, an animal welfare charity based in Edinburgh, that exposes cruelty and persecution to Scotland’s animals via investigations, research and campaigning. @onekindtweet OneKind…

Wild Peregrines for falconry (continued)

Yesterday’s two blog posts on the decision of Natural England to license the taking of a very small number of Peregrine chicks for captive breeding by falconers caused quite a storm (see here and here). Here are my thoughts: Many thanks to Gary Wall for writing a blog and for responding to all of the…