Catching the people illegally killing Britain’s birds of prey | BBC News

Added: 2026-05-28

[00:00:03]A gamekeeper batters a protected bird of prey.

[00:00:08]Oh yeah, it's horrific to watch.

[00:00:11]>> We're going undercover with bird charity, the RSPB's investigations unit.

[00:00:17]>> We really rely on members of the public.

[00:00:20]>> The team uses high-tech surveillance technology to uncover evidence of attacks on birds. There is Yeah.

[00:00:31]Shooting groups say they have zero tolerance for wildlife crime.

[00:00:35]>> These crimes have no place in the modern shooting community.

[00:00:38]>> But the RSPB is demanding game bird shooting be licensed.

[00:00:43]>> This is about money. It's about rearing the maximum number of game birds to be shot.

[00:00:55]It is dawn on the high moors of northern England.

[00:00:59]An investigator from the RSPB is looking for somewhere to hide.

[00:01:05]He's trying to gather evidence of crimes that are very hard to prove. Deadly attacks on some of this country's rarest and most majestic birds, our birds of prey.

[00:01:19]So, we'll be hidden away covertly watching the individual that we've been told is killing birds of prey, watching their movement, seeing where they're going, understanding their patterns of behavior.

[00:01:31]The RSPB says some birds are killed because they prey on young feeasants, partridges, and grouse, leaving more game birds for paying shoots. What leads do you get to tell you when crimes might be being committed? We will get a report through from a member of the public.

[00:01:48]Maybe a a dead bird of prey found in suspicious circumstances or a bird of prey found in a trap like this to owl caught in a crow trap on the Yorkshire moors. It can prompt the team to install high-tech surveillance equipment.

[00:02:06]They did that here at a different location in Yorkshire. These traps are legal, but must be checked regularly, and non-target species must be released unharmed.

[00:02:18]On March the 30th, 2024, the camera showed a buzzard, a legally protected bird of prey caught in the trap. The gamekeeper, Thomas Monday, arrives dressed in camo gear and carrying a stick, which he uses to beat the bird.

[00:02:41]It's horrific. Hard to watch. Yeah, >> it's horrific.

[00:02:43]>> This is a trap bird and he's just beating it essentially. And it's a fully protected bird. It's on the ground and even though he's hit it several times, it's still alive. You can see the wings moving.

[00:02:54]>> In court earlier this year, Bundai admitted killing a protected bird and was fined over £1,000.

[00:03:03]>> Mark Thomas heads up the RSPB's specialist investigations team. It's made up of an unlikely mix of ex police detectives and bird experts. They've been mapping attacks on birds of prey.

[00:03:17]The RSPB claims it has strong evidence that 921 birds of prey were illegally killed in the UK in the 10 years to 2024. It claims more than half, 55% of those birds were killed on or near land associated with game bird management.

[00:03:37]>> This is about money. It's about rearing the maximum number of game birds to be shot for money, and removing any predators that impact on that, be it whether they're protected or not.

[00:03:50]Shooting bodies say they have zero tolerance for illegal killing and that those responsible are a tiny minority of people involved in the sector.

[00:04:00]>> What we should do is strengthen law enforcement to persecute these pockets of individuals as you put it who commit these crimes. These crimes have nothing to they have no place in the modern shooting community.

[00:04:13]>> He's just going across that diagonal moan bit just below it now. Oh, he's magnificent, isn't he? While filming with the RSPB, we caught a rare glimpse of hen harriers performing their courtship display. It is known as sky dancing. That is amazing. There are like 30 or 40 breeding pairs of these birds in England, and we're looking at two of them right now.

[00:04:39]>> Henarriers are amongst the UK's rarest and most persecuted birds of prey.

[00:04:46]The RSPB says this undercover recording from North Yorkshire shows they are still targeted on some estates because they prey on game birds. Head gamekeeper Raxster Dingwell and two other men arrived shortly before dusk at a henarrier roost site.

[00:05:04]>> You had any joy up there this afternoon?

[00:05:08]>> They talk in code discussing protected birds they've shot that day. A bomber is a buzzard. A go is a raven.

[00:05:18]>> I saw that bomber come down and then got it on its way back up the gill and then >> there was three go, but I've got one when I was up the back of the wall.

[00:05:29]>> That's all I've seen other than that jet when I went home.

[00:05:32]>> A jet is a hen harrier. They discuss a hen harrier spotted at the roost that doesn't have a tracking tag on it.

[00:05:41]>> Can you see it? Anyone see it?

[00:05:45]>> Oh, I got it. Yeah.

[00:05:46]>> A bit later, Dingle gets up and walks towards the roost with his shotgun.

[00:05:54]A few minutes on and in January, this recording led to the first conviction in England for conspiracy to kill a hen harrier.

[00:06:07]>> Are you under pressure to to shoot endangered birds when you're a gay people? What we've been saying for decades about gamekeepers on some grouse moors killing hen harriers, it is true.

[00:06:18]Here's the evidence. It is true. It's coordinated. It's sophisticated. They have equipment. They have code words.

[00:06:25]They're working in concert with each other. And they're targeting one of the one of Britain's rarest breeding birds, the hen harrier. The RSPB data says the number of recorded incidents has fallen, but the charity says the long-term pattern shows prosecution isn't working.

[00:06:42]It's now demanding that game bird shoots like this in England and Wales be licensed, as grass shoots already are in Scotland, so estates could lose their license if there's significant evidence of wrongdoing, even if it's not enough for a criminal prosecution.

[00:06:58]But shooting organizations say licensing would penalize responsible estates and risk conservation work.

[00:07:07]So licensing will only add another layer of rules. The the killing of raptors is is already regulated, right? It's already legal. This is a sector which delivers for nature recovery. 500 million a year is spent on conservation work alone.

[00:07:28]The government says it is working with the shooting industry to explore measures to protect birds of prey. It told the BBC, "Many estates already meet high environmental standards and we want all estates to achieve those same high standards."

[00:07:45]But bird campaigners say the irony is stark. Britain is spending public money bringing back birds of prey such as these white-tailed eagles, only for some to be killed in the landscapes where they were meant to flourish.

[00:08:05]Justin Rolat, BBC News, Cumbria.