EAGLE-EYED East Lancashire bird lovers are being urged to be on their guard against thieves who raid the nests of rare birds for eggs.

Campaign group the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds had written to thousands of local members after a number of Peregrine nests were plundered last year.

The thefts were among a spate nationally in 1998 when scores of rare birds eggs and chicks were targeted.

Richard Porter, head of species protection at the RSPB, said: "Every year hundreds of rare wild birds are illegally poisoned, trapped, shot or have their nests robbed and those reported are just the tip of the iceberg as most victims will never be discovered.

"We want to stop these crooks and scoundrels who threaten our wildlife. Their motives are greed, ignorance and sheer bloody-mindedness and the end result is the destruction of treasured birds."

The group is now called for government reform to wildlife laws to enable stronger penalties to be imposed.

Mr Porter went on: "Hundreds of egg collectors are prepared to break the law each year by stealing and killing what are, in effect, future generations of birds. Only a handful are caught annually and the fines which such crimes attract are clearly a poor deterrent.

Under the current Wildlife and Countryside Act all wild birds, their eggs and nests are protected and the maximum fine for stealing an egg £1,000, although thieves targeting very rare breeding birds like Peregrines face a maximum fine f £5,000.

A spokesman for the RSPB added: "There is a flourishing illegal trade in wild birds which involves some of the world's most endangered species and in the last two years the RSPB has learned of 38 separate cases of illegal bird trafficking.

"As well as rare parrots, macaws and cockatoos, birds of prey also feature and peregrine falcons from the UK are sometimes smuggled out of the country to continental Europe."

Any suspicious incident should be reported to the local Police Wildlife Liaison Officer, the RSPB or, in the case of poisoning, the Government Agriculture Department on their hotline 0800 321600.

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