The Lincolnshire Bird Club

PRESS NOTIFICATION – Background information only.

Details may be subject to change.

Date: April 1st - 2nd 2008 (confirmed 2 day trial)

Venue: Skegness Magistrates Court

Defendant: Richard Pearson (DOB 01/05/66) of Phelps Place Cleethorpes

Charges: The defendant is charged on seven counts under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

Possession of 653 Schedule 1 bird eggs

Possession of 6477 wild bird eggs

Taking of 5 chough eggs from a location in North Wales on April 16th
2006.

Taking of 3 peregrine falcon eggs from a location in North Wales on
April 16th 2006.

Taking of 4 barn owl eggs from a location in Lincolnshire on April 28th
2005.

Having items for the purpose of committing an offence under Section 1
of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 – egg blowing kit, rubber
dingy, padded containers, egg boxes, maps, camera and books.

Possession of 21 dead wild birds.

Background Information:

During a search warrant executed at the defendant’s home address on
November 8th 2006 by wildlife officers from Lincolnshire Police and
RSPB Investigations, a huge number of wild birds' eggs and a number of
dead wild birds were seized along with egg collecting paraphernalia.

RSPB examination of the collection revealed it contained over 7000 wild
birds eggs with significantly 653 of these being from rare species
listed on Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

In conservation terms, this is one of the most significant seizures of
birds’ eggs since the inception of the Wildlife and Countryside Act
1981 and certainly the largest seizure in the last decade.

Eggs of some of the UK’s rarest nesting species were found in the
collection including: golden eagle, little tern, osprey, black-necked
grebe, avocet, black-tailed godwit, stone-curlew, chough, peregrine
falcon and red-throated diver.

Many of these species receive a considerable amount of conservation
action and financial recourses from a variety of organisations
including RSPB, because they are birds of high conservation concern
with small and fragile breeding populations. During the breeding season
many of the nests of these birds are monitored and in some cases even
protected around the clock by hundreds of volunteers and wardens at
their various nesting locations in the UK.

The RSPB believes there are around 100 active egg collectors in the UK.
Under tough legislation introduced in the Countryside and Rights of Way
Act 2000, the maximum penalty for taking or possessing one wild bird’s
egg is six months imprisonment and/or a fine of £5000. Since the Act
was introduced, ten egg collectors have been sent to prison.

The Crown Prosecution Service is bringing this case to court.

Lincolnshire Police Wildlife Crime Officers PC Nigel Lound and PC
Stuart Carmichael and RSPB Investigations Officer Mark Thomas will be
attending court.

Some of the eggs will be available in court and mini DV footage of the
search warrant will be released after the trial. For further
information and details for obtaining images/footage please contact,
Mark Thomas (RSPB Investigations) on 07803 241 452 or RSPB Press Office
01767 681577.


This trial will definitely go ahead on these dates.

_________________
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Andrew Chick
Website: http://www.forktail.co.uk/

A sage reminder to keep quiet about rare breeding birds........

Alex

_________________
Dr Alexander C. Lees
Lecturer in tropical ecology
Manchester Metropolitan University

Lab Associate
Cornell Lab of Ornithology,
Cornell University

http://www.freewebs.com/alexlees/index.htm
@Alexander_Lees

I agree wholeheartedly. Do you think someone will have had the sense to do what Andrew has done but on Birdforum.net and other large forums?

John

I've just seen on ceefax that Pearson has been convicted and sentenced to 23 weeks in prison. As the maximum sentence under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 is 6 months for one egg, 23 weeks for 7,000 doesn't seem excessive!!

Guilty!

Thief convicted over massive haul of wild bird eggs

An egg thief has pleaded guilty to amassing a huge collection of wild birds eggs in the biggest case of its kind for 20 years.
Richard Pearson was sentenced to 23 weeks in prison by a district judge sitting at Skegness Magistrates’ Court today (Tuesday).
The court heard how police and RSPB officers raided Pearson’s Cleethorpes home in November 2006.

Inside they found his collection of more than 7,000 wild birds eggs, including those of some of the UK’s rarest nesting species such as golden eagle, little tern, osprey, black-necked grebe, avocet, black-tailed godwit, stone-curlew, chough, peregrine falcon and red-throated diver.
David Outterside, prosecuting, said a freezer at the 41-year-old’s house was filled with the bodies of 21 wild birds, including rare birds such as honey buzzard, Montagu’s harrier and short-toed eagle.
Among the egg collecting equipment discovered at the address were an egg blowing kit, rubber dingy, padded containers, egg boxes, maps, a camera and books.

In conservation terms, this is one of the most significant seizures of birds’ eggs since the inception of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
After his arrest, Pearson had initially denied taking the eggs, claiming Colin Watson a notorious egg collector, who fell to his death in 2006, gave them to him. However, diaries in Pearson’s handwriting detailed his thefts and investigators were able to match individual entries to eggs in the collection taken over a fifteen-year period.
Today he pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing wild birds eggs and three counts of taking eggs from the wild.
Passing sentence, District Judge Richard Blake, told Pearson: “You carefully organised this evil campaign against wildlife. You have threatened the fragile heritage of the wildlife of these islands, preying on the rarest of birds.”

He sentenced Pearson to 23 weeks for each of the offences to run concurrently. Pearson was also ordered to pay £1,500 costs.
The judge paid tribute to the work of Lincolnshire Police’s wildlife crime officer, PC Nigel Lound and RSPB Investigations Officer Mark Thomas.
Mark Thomas, said: “Based on the overwhelming prosecution evidence in this case we had no doubt Pearson would be found guilty and today we welcome the sentence.

“Together with the Police, we have dealt with many egg-collecting cases over the years but the scale of the offending in this case was horrifying.
“His actions show a selfish disregard for nature, denying the rest of us the joy of seeing these wonderful creatures in the wild so he could amass this macabre collection for his own perverse satisfaction.
“Despite tough legislation, Pearson and a few others like him continue to present a serious threat to some of the UK’s most threatened birds. The length of his sentence reflects this and we hope it acts as a deterrent to others.”
He added: “I would also like to pass on our thanks for the superb efforts of PC Nigel Lound and Lincolnshire Police.”

The RSPB believes there are around 100 active egg collectors in the UK.
Under tough legislation introduced in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, the maximum penalty for taking or possessing one wild bird’s egg is six months imprisonment and/or a fine of £5,000.
Since the Act was introduced, ten egg collectors have been sent to prison.

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Andrew Chick
Website: http://www.forktail.co.uk/

The main question to be answered is, will a jail term deter him. I doubt it.

Will all of those frozen birds, eggs and egg collecting equipment be confiscated?

It is partly through the selfish actions of someone like him that many of the red-listed birds remain red-listed. It's an outrage his sentence wasn't longer.

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GETTING OLD HAS IT'S ADVANTAGES BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT THEY ARE lol