300 P Squires 500 450 400 350 300 250 200 150 100 50 2005 2006 2007 Poisoning 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 Shooting, trapping and other destruction Fig Combined Reports of Illegal Killing of Birds of Prey in the UK, 2005–2013 (Data before and after 2008 are not strictly comparable because of changes in the ways they have been collected) Source: RSPB, Bird Crime report Series: Annual Reports 2010-2013 At present the maximum fine for offences tried in Magistrates’ Courts under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 is £5,000 and/or up to six months imprisonment Despite this, the wildlife lobby acknowledges that fines of this order, even if they were more consistently imposed, would be unlikely to act as an effective deterrent The RSPB argues that penalties for the killing of birds of prey should be increased to a maximum £50,000 fine and/or up to 12 months in prison in the Magistrates’ Court, with unlimited fines and/or up to five years imprisonment available in the Crown Court Fines alone, however, are seldom regarded as an effective strategy, especially where there is evidence of landowners apparently paying fines on behalf of their staff (Nurse 2011, p 42) However, the RSPB Scotland report (2009) notes many instances of landowners, upon whose land the killing occurs, being deducted many tens of thousands of pounds from