Working in the Investigations Section, it often seems that we are faced with lots of doom and gloom, be it shot or poisoned raptors or hoards of illegally taken wild birds’ eggs.

Well today, we have a lot to celebrate; the national figures have just come in for breeding Montagu’s Harriers in the UK and 2007 looks like it has been a record year. Overall, 2007 saw 25 juvenile harriers fledge from 13 nesting attempts…

On May 7 2006, two RSPB members noticed their next-door neighbour, Steven Thomas of Haul Y Fryn, Ferwig, Cardigan, destroying an active house martin present under the gable of his house, using a hosepipe and a tall wooden pole.

The witnesses were able to obtain three photographs of the destruction whilst it was taking place, one of which featured an adult house martin hovering just above the nest site, whilst the pole could…