RSPB release video of abseiling thief stealing peregrine falcon eggs from Peak District nest after prosecution fails

The charity worked with Derbyshire Police to identify a 60-year-old local man as the suspect after cameras on the nest at Stoney Middleton in the Peak District captured the theft in May 2020.

In the footage, the adult bird is disturbed at night and leaves the nest, before a man abseiling down the rockface on a rope can be seen removing the eggs and putting them in an ice cream tub.

At Chesterfield Magistrates Court last month, the man was found not guilty after his lawyer successfully argued that his arrest was unlawful and evidence found during searches of his home was inadmissiable. No eggs or chicks were ever recovered.

The RSPB believe peregrines, which are legally protected birds, are targeted for supply to the lucrative Middle Eastern falconry trade. Investigations officers installed the cameras because nests at the quarry had failed on several previous occasions.

Tom Grose from the RSPB said: "When we returned to check the cameras, there was no sign of the adult birds, which was concerning. By this point of the nesting process, we knew they should have had eggs or even chicks."

The footage was reviewed and showed 'normal incubation behaviour' until the theft on May 20. Two days later, the eggs were found to have vanished.

As a result of the failed prosecution, the RSPB is calling on the government to improve legislation and to admit DNA evidence in such cases.