As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Friday 1 September 2017

Rare birds have been mysteriously dying and a royal estate is at the centre of it all


AUGUST 18TH, 2017

Sally, a Montagu’s harrier, has been missing since 6 August. Made famous by being fitted with a satellite tag and released on the BBC’s Autumnwatch and monitored by the RSPB, Sally is half of one of the five Montagu’s harrier breeding pairs in the UK. Her partner Roger has been found, alone, at their nest in Bircham Tofts, West Norfolk. For those involved with wildlife conservation, it comes as no surprise that this village lies on the edge of Sandringham Estate.

Ten years of crimes and counting
The 20,000-acre royal estate has been host to a string of mysterious bird of prey deaths and disappearances over the past decade. A successful prosecution could land the culprits a hefty fine and prison time, but nobody has yet been caught for the cases at Sandringham.

In 2007, a conservation warden and two onlookers watched two hen harriers being shot mid-flight. This killing happened at Dersingham Bog, a Natural England nature reserve just half a mile from Sandringham itself. Prince Harry and a friend were shooting on the estate at the time and were questioned by the police as suspects. But nothing came of it.


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