NORTH Yorkshire has been named as the worst place in the UK for bird crime- for the seventh year in a row.

The RSPB’s 2020 Birdcrime report shows the area is yet again the worst place for the illegal killing of birds of prey, much of it linked directly to driven grouse shooting.

It said 26 out of 137 confirmed incidents across the UK occurred in North Yorkshire. "Of these, two thirds were directly related to grouse shooting and a further four incidents to other types of shooting," said a spokesperson.

"Victims in the county included 16 buzzards, two peregrine falcons, two red kites and one goshawk.

"In April 2020, North Yorkshire Police officers found five dead buzzards on a grouse moor on the edge of Bransdale in the North York Moors. Four of the birds were confirmed to have been shot, and the injuries of the fifth were ‘suggestive of damage from a shotgun pellet’."

Mark Thomas, Head of Investigations UK, said, “Although we have become used to the illegal killing of birds of prey, the figure for 2020 is truly shocking. We continue to work with police on many joint investigations."