Gamekeeper shot and poisoned birds of prey at national nature reserves

Matthew Stroud, 46, from Fengate at Weeting, near Thetford, dosed dead pheasants with poison as bait to kill buzzards in woodlands near Weeting Heath and Breckland Forest, which are both protected sites.

Goshawk that had been shot by gamekeeper Matthew Stroud (Image: RSPB)

Appearing at Norwich Magistrates Court he admitted shooting five buzzards and one goshawk, the poisoning of another buzzard, the laying of poison baits and illegal possession of poisons including strychnine.

He also became the first person convicted for the unauthorised release of game birds on a Special Protection Area (SPA).

The court heard an investigation was launched when RSPB officers found a young pheasant dead in Belvedere Wood, Weeting, on August 19 last year that had been poisoned.

Matthew Stroud and his defence solicitor Michael Horn (front) leaving Norwich Magistrates Court (Image: Archant)

Police later also searched Stroud’s home at Fengate in Weeting and Oisier Carr Wood where they found three dead buzzards that x-rays showed had been shot.

Two pheasant carcasses with extremely high levels of strychnine and a poisoned common buzzard were found in Belvedere Wood, protected because of its internationally important population of stone curlews.

His mobile phone was also found to contain photos of a dead goshawk and five dead buzzards.

Stroud, self-employed gamekeeper at Fengate Farm, pleaded guilty to six counts of killing a common buzzard and of killing a northern goshawk, both protected species.

Two bottles of banned poison strychnine chloride were discovered in the glovebox of Stroud's 4x4 vehicle (Image: RSPB)

He also admitted possessing four shotguns to kill wild birds, poison without a licence and storing poison incorrectly and releasing 3,400 pheasants into the wild contrary to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

Michael Horn, mitigating, said: “There has been a shoot in this area for over 300 years. In 2020 there were no shoots held for obvious reasons. The next year the defendant was, perhaps wrongfully and unlawfully, very keen to restart it.

“At the time these pheasants were being decimated by these buzzards. His livelihood was being decimated.”

He received a 12-month community order, was ordered to do 200 hours of unpaid work and was fined £692 for offences connected with raptor persecution.

Dead pheasant poisoned as bait (Image: RSPB)

Mark Thomas, head of RSPB Investigations UK, said: “It is difficult not to be disappointed with the outcome today considering the significance of the offences and combined efforts of the agencies involved.

“Laying poison baits out in the open is not only illegal but extremely dangerous and irresponsible.

“Baits like those being used at Fengate Farm present a deadly risk to any animal or person that might come across it. It is particularly troubling that this was happening on an SPA, a designated area where wildlife and nature should have the highest legal protection.”

PC Chris Shelley, Norfolk police rural crime officer, said: “This investigation is one of the biggest cases of its kind that we have dealt with in Norfolk.

Weeting Heath is a protected for its stone curlew population (Image: Archant)

“Stroud's actions were dangerous and inhumane – he shot and poisoned birds of prey as he saw fit, and at will, because it suited him to do so.

"He also used a highly dangerous poison - one that has been banned in the UK for the last 15 years – indiscriminately, which could have had a disastrous effect on other local wildlife and showed a scant disregard for the safety of others.”

In a statement the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) said: “There is no space for illegality in the countryside, nor in the shooting community.

“BASC has a zero-tolerance approach to the illegal killing of birds of prey. Shooting’s contribution to conservation efforts and the rural economy is too great to allow the criminal actions of a tiny minority jeopardise the ongoing benefits.

“Positively, these cases are becoming rarer and population levels of most UK birds of prey are at record highs, much of this is down to the conservation efforts of shooting interests.”