Norfolk Gamekeeper poisoned 10 buzzards and a sparrowhawk

[Tony Gosling]

Gamekeeper found guilty of poisoning 10 buzzards and a sparrowhawk

http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/02/gamekeeper-guilty-poisoning-birds-of-prey-norfolk
Court rejects Allen Lambert's claim dead birds of prey were planted 
on Norfolk estate by dog-walker with grudge against him
    * 
<http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/02/http://www.theguardian.com/profile/patrickbarkham>Patrick 
Barkham - 
<http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/02/http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian>The 
Guardian, Thursday 2 October 2014
Embedded image permalink

http://www.twitter.com/RSPBbirders/status/517339934076575745

A gamekeeper found with a bag of nine dead buzzards on a 
pheasant-shooting estate has been found guilty of intentionally 
killing a protected species in what is England's worst recorded case 
of poisoning birds of prey.

Allen Lambert, gamekeeper for 24 years at the 
<http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/02/http://www.stodyestate.co.uk/>Stody 
Estate in Norfolk, will be sentenced next month after being convicted 
of killing 10 buzzards and a sparrowhawk. Lambert was also found 
guilty of possessing illegal pesticides and other equipment including 
a syringe for injecting poison into eggs or meat baits, which 
prosecutors described as a "classic poisoner's kit".

Norwich magistrates court heard how an 
<http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/02/http://www.rspb.org.uk/news/383363-gamekeeper-found-guilty-of-mass-poisoning-of-birds-of-prey>RSPB 
investigator alerted Norfolk Police after a tip-off in April 2013 led 
to the discovery of carcasses of five buzzards, a sparrowhawk, a 
tawny owl and a stoat close to pheasant feeding bins on the 
<http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/02/http://www.farmersguardian.com/home/latest-news/norfolk-estate-manager-receives-top-award/46488.article>award-winning 
4,500-acre estate.

When police searched outbuildings around the gamekeeper's cottage, 
they discovered a sack of pheasant feed on a quad bike filled with 
nine dead buzzards. A government vet judged they had been killed 
within the previous fortnight.

They also found a banned agricultural pesticide, mevinphos, in 
Lambert's Land Rover, and another illegal pesticide, aldicarb, in a 
garage. Both substances have been illegally used in other cases of 
poisoning of birds of prey across Britain and post-mortems found 
traces of mevinphos in all 11 dead birds. Several other buzzard 
carcasses found on the estate were too decayed to be analysed.

Lambert, 65, who retired some months after his arrest, pleaded guilty 
to the illegal storage of banned pesticides and the unlawful 
possession of nine dead buzzards but maintained his innocence over 
the poisoning, telling the court that the birds had been planted 
"belly up" on the estate by a local dog-walker who bore a grudge 
against him. Lambert told police he had only deployed the illegal 
poison found in his vehicle once, seven years earlier, when he placed 
it inside a dead rat to kill "a tricky fox".

Persecution drove buzzards to extinction in southern and eastern 
England, but since the early 1980s the bird has staged a remarkable 
comeback and is now found across the country. Britain's 
<http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/oct/02/http://www.rspb.org.uk/discoverandenjoynature/discoverandlearn/birdguide/name/b/buzzard/>buzzard 
population increased eightfoldbetween 1993 and 2013.

A study has found 1 to 2% of young pheasant deaths are caused by 
birds of prey and Lambert told the court he did not consider the 
thriving buzzard population a threat to the pheasants, which he 
managed for the MacNicol family, who own the estate. John Hughes, for 
the defence, said Lambert was approaching retirement and had "no 
economic reason" to slaughter the buzzards.

But district judge Peter Veits ruled Lambert's explanation of "a 
vendetta against him" was implausible and said he "found it hard to 
imagine" that the gamekeeper would be so unaware of the incriminating 
and illegal poisons kept in his sheds.

Noting that Lambert told the court he never received any pesticide 
training, the judge said he would take into account the "total lack 
of supervision" by his employer when sentencing next month.

"There would appear to be a complete lack of control over poisons on 
the estate," the judge told Lambert. "In many other ways your 
employers might have been in the dock themselves for some of these 
offences involving poison on their property."

After the verdict, Bob Elliot, head of investigations at the RSPB, 
said: "Unfortunately, this is part of a wider national problem. In 
2013 we recorded 76 individual birds and other animals illegally 
poisoned, including 30 buzzards and 20 red kites. We are now calling 
on the UK government to show their commitment to the protection of 
birds of prey by introducing stronger legislation, such as increasing 
controls on people who possess pesticides used to poison wildlife 
such as mevinphos and aldicarb. This could be vital in the fight 
against illegal persecution."
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