 |
| Operation Easter |
|
|
Operation Easter is a nationwide operation co-ordinated by Tayside Police. Its aim is convicting or deterring the main collectors
of rare wild birds' eggs in the UK and abroad. Because of the success of the operation, the number of known egg thieves who are believed
still active has reduced from somewhere around 130 to no more than 70. Important factors in this dramatic reduction are the real risk now
of being caught by the police and the likelihood of being imprisoned if convicted.
Because of these risks many egg collectors have given up their 'hobby', though may well still retain their egg collection. Some now go abroad to collect eggs where the police may not take this crime so seriously, though we frequently alert the police in other countries if we are aware of an impending visit by a collector. Other egg thieves are still prepared to run the risk of collecting eggs in the UK and are the main focus of our attention. Operation Easter is one of extremely few operations that involves every single police force in the UK, and has links with the National Wildlife Crime Unit, HM Revenue and Customs and RSPB. Operation Easter continues its success, with several good results in 2005 and 2006. We started off 2005 with the recovery of 3600 eggs from the home of an Operation Easter target in Norfolk. This man specialised in collecting the eggs of the Nightingale, and had 166 eggs, and those of the Nightjar, of which he had 89 eggs. If these eggs were all collected in the same general area this would have had a serious effect on the numbers of these birds, which are not common in any case. 200 of the eggs were from the even rarer birds on Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, with 24 of those from the Little Tern. The man pleaded guilty and was sentenced to ten weeks imprisonment despite have no previous convictions. It was a good result. 
In the summer of 2005 the home address of another Operation Easter target, this time from Northumbria, was searched and over 800 eggs
recovered. These included eggs of the Stone Curlew, Little Ringed Plover, Little Tern and Red-throated Diver, all Schedule 1 birds.
The man was sentenced to 280 hours of community service, which is a direct alternative to imprisonment.
In the search of another target's house in Warwickshire in the Autumn, the police were really looking for a weapon after a complaint of assault. No weapon was found but 76 eggs were discovered. This time the rarer eggs were those of the Kingfisher, Little Ringed Plover and Tree Pipit. The man was sentenced to four months imprisonment, this being his eighth conviction for taking eggs. In the early spring of 2006 two men from Merseyside, both Operation Easter targets, were arrested in Wales and charged with intentional or reckless disturbance of a nesting Goshawk. At the time of writing this case has still to come to court. 
In the summer of 2006 400 eggs were recovered from an Operation Easter target's address in Middlesbrough though the man has since
disappeared. Later in the year the house of another target, this time in Grimsby, was searched and 8000 eggs recovered. The man has
been charged and awaits a court appearance.
In October of 2006, two of our targets from Norfolk and Leicestershire pleaded guilty to several taxidermy and egg-related offences and after a trial lasting eight days were found guilty of other similar offences to which they had pleaded Not Guilty. The offences included the trade in eggs from Russia and Norway, and trips to North Rona where Leach's Petrel, Storm Petrel and Arctic Skua - all sea birds - nest. These birds were recovered as taxidermy specimens. One of the men, a businessman with property in London, was jailed for four months and ordered to pay costs of £30,000. The other man, a retired magistrate, was sentenced to two months imprisonment suspended for a year and was ordered to pay costs of £8,300. In November 2006 a man from Strathclyde was fined £300 at Stirling Sheriff Summary court after recklessly or intentionally disturbing nesting ospreys. In November 2006, 7000 wild birds' eggs were recovered by police and RSPB officers after a search of a house in Lincolnshire. A man has been charged and awaits trial. In June 2007, houses of three targets in Warwickshire and West Midlands were searched by police and RSPB. Eggs were recovered in all three and as a result two men await trial. In July 2007, 77 wild birds' eggs were recovered by police searching a house in Falkirk. Many of these appear to have been taken in Tayside. A man has been charged and is due to appear in court. 
Click here to visit the National Wildlife Crime Unit website
Click here to visit the RSPB website
|
