The RSPB's latest annual bird crime report showed there were 128 reports of illegal poisoning in 2010

This article is more than 8 years old

This article is more than 8 years old

Conservationists called on Thursday for possession of poisons used to illegally kill wildlife to be outlawed, as a report showed dozens of birds of prey were killed last year.

The RSPB's latest annual bird crime report showed there were 128 reports of illegal poisoning in 2010, with 20 red kites, 30 buzzards, five golden eagles and eight peregrine falcons among the birds found poisoned.

The figures for last year are not as bad as 2009, when 153 reports of illegal poisoning of birds were received, and are also lower than the five-year average of 150 incidents.

However the RSPB report said that last year's figures contained some "very serious" incidents including the first poisoning in living memory of a golden eagle in Northern Ireland, where it had been released as part of a reintroduction programme.

And a white-tailed eagle, a bird which has only returned to the UK as a result of a reintroduction programme after being persecuted to extinction by early in the last century, was found poisoned in Scotland.

The RSPB also said that so far this year there appeared to be a "high" number of poisonings, with at least 20 birds including goshawks, buzzards, a red kite and a golden eagle – a century after it was first made illegal to put out bait laced with poison to kill wildlife in the countryside.

The wildlife charity has called for a law to be enacted which makes it an offence to own deadly poisons with a legitimate reason for having them.

It is already illegal, under laws brought in in 2006, to possess certain pesticides harmful to wildlife unless the owner can prove they have them for a lawful purpose.

However in England and Wales a list of which substances are controlled in this way has not been published, rendering the rules toothless.

In Scotland, where the controls were in place since 2005 and a list of banned pesticides has been produced, some 10 convictions have been secured under the rules.

In Northern Ireland a similar law has just been brought in but no list has yet been published.

RSPB conservation director, Martin Harper, said:

"If the government is serious about tackling illegal persecution of birds of prey, it really needs to start taking meaningful action.

"Putting additional controls on the possession of these common wildlife poisons would be a relatively easy first step, especially as these controls would not affect legitimate pesticide uses."

The RSPB said the list of chemicals used to illegally kill birds, usually by dousing the carcass of a pheasant, rabbit or a pigeon with poisons, included a host of agricultural pesticides.

In addition to poisoning, the annual report showed that there were 227 reports of shooting and destruction of birds of prey, 40 reported egg-collecting incidents, 31 reports of illegal taking, possession or sale of birds or prey and 63 reports of illegal taking, possession or sale of wild birds other than birds of prey.