Indiscriminate wildlife poisoning on Northumberland shooting estate
In early 2023, HIT worked with local wildlife lovers to document a devastating story of indiscriminate poisoning on a shooting estate in Northumberland. The Allendale Estate is reputed for its “conservation” credentials, but once again, HIT has showed that beneath the veneer, wildlife crime and cruelty are rampant.
The village of Welton is surrounded by fields, reservoirs and a nature reserve. It’s a popular walking hub, along the Hadrian’s Wall footpath. Much of the private land here is owned by the Allendale Estate and is managed for pheasant and partridge shooting. This land bears the distinctive strips of “cover crops” and bright blue feeding drums. These feeders sustain pheasant and partridge populations: birds reared for recreational shooting.
The introduction of extra feed to support these bird populations inevitably attracts other species. Rats in particular benefit from the free food source. In response, those managing the land for Allendale try to eliminate the unwanted animals.
Numerous sachets of a notorious deadly anticoagulant rat poison – Brodifacoum – were found strewn around the pheasant/partridge feeders, with a trail of dead rats, dead raptors and other wildlife in their wake. The poison was all found on fields managed for shooting, around the village of Welton on the Allendale Estate.
Brodifacoum is a highly toxic rodenticide. It is known to kill increasing numbers of birds of prey in England (Guardian, 2022), because raptors often predate on the rats who have been poisoned and thus ingest the substance too. The RSPB (2023) stated that “the frequent occurrence of the highly toxic Brodifacoum and related rodenticides in raptor deaths is a significant emerging and concerning problem.”
The Brodifacoum on Allendale was used without secure bait boxes, in the open countryside. The sachets were in various stages of disintegration, suggesting they had not been inspected after being put out. Similarly, the dead rats were at different stages of decomposition, suggesting that the poisoner had not made efforts to locate and remove them. This shocking behaviour is almost certain to lead to the poisoning of many other species, and even presents a risk to human health.
Following the poison trail, HIT documented five dead buzzards, one dead barn owl, a dying badger and numerous dead corvids, in the immediate area around the chewed Brodifacoum sachets and dead rats. Some of these animals had already been predated and their bodies were too dismembered to collect. All others were safely collected and sent to the statutory Wildlife Incident Investigation Scheme (WIIS) for toxicity testing.
Testing by WIIS confirmed that the rats, the barn owl and the badger all had lethally toxic levels of rodenticide in their bodies. The buzzards were too predated to test, but if they too were poisoned, the animals who predated on them would also have ingested poison. This might easily include other raptors.
A particularly distressing fact in this case is that the form of Brodifacoum found (Sapphire paste) is advertised as containing “irresistible peanut oils“. Badgers, a legally protected species, are especially fond of peanuts and this could mean they are more likely to consume the deadly poison directly. The young female found dying in agony may well have been a victim of this cruel flavouring, after eating the substance.
A tiny and harmless wild fieldmouse was also found dead, huddled in a stash of the poison sachets. The many dead corvids in the area were potentially also poisoned, along with countless unseen victims. This was a scene of indiscriminate, mass killing.
The loose poison sachets at Welton were documented, collected and stored securely, to ensure no further animals could be harmed. However, it remains possible that more poison – and more poisoned bodies – remain in the area, putting wildlife and pets at immediate risk. Brodifacoum causes untold and needless suffering, through primary and secondary consumption.
The Welton area is popular with dog walkers and borders the Northumberland Wildlife Trust’s Whittle Dene nature reserve. Poison sachets and poisoned bodies were found within meters of the footpaths where families with children and dogs walked by the reservoirs and fields. Dogs and children are just as susceptible to secondary poisoning as wild animals. We urge anyone with experience of suspected poisoning to get in touch. HIT’s findings are potentially just the tip of the iceberg.
Land ownership info:
Magic Maps shows that environmental subsidies are in payment to Bywell Home Farms LLP for the land where the poison was found. Bywell Homes Farms is a business of the Estate, under direct leadership of Viscount and Viscountess Allendale. These subsidies are taxpayer funded awards for “countryside stewardship”. The significant damage to local wildlife and habitat through casual and illegal use of poison on this land, calls into question the appropriateness of these payments.
NB Another of Bywell’s LLP designated members is William Van Cutsem, close friend of Prince William. HIT exposed a gamekeeper illegally trapping a goshawk on Van Cutsem’s Hilborough Estate in Norfolk, in spring 2022. A further Bywell member is Henry Richard Geers Cotterell, former president of the Country Landowners’ Association. Cotterell was awarded an OBE in the 2015 new year honours for “services to the Rural Community and to Charity.”. Along with the stewardship subsidies, this award for rural services seems dubious in light of the Allendale poisoning regime.
Illegal spring traps on the Allendale Estate :
Whilst documenting the widespread use of poison, numerous illegal spring traps were also found on the Allendale Estate, each causing further suffering and death, in order to boost pheasants and partridges for shooting. Hundreds of Fenn traps were identified, many of which had caught and killed birds (such as thrushes) and stoats. Fenn traps have been outlawed for killing stoats since 2020 (as GWCT advise the shooting industry) yet the Allendale Estate still feel emboldened to use these barbaric devices on their land. The traps also killed blackbirds, rabbits and squirrels, often within meters of the Hadrian’s Wall footpath: another popular walking route in the area.
Such callous and brazen destruction remains all too common on shooting estates. Perhaps the Allendale Estate’s gamekeepers have such confidence in using illegal traps and indiscriminate poisons because they feel protected by laws which do so little to protect wildlife. Perhaps because the local Wildlife Crime Officer, a certain PC Lee Davison, is himself the son of a gamekeeper.
Despite the shocking facts of this case, we can all help make change. Welton and Whittle Dene are popular areas, visited by animal lovers including dog walkers and bird watchers. We urge locals to monitor the area closely. Please be alert for any signs of poison and persecution: check out our images and be vigilant. Please document any concerns and report any findings to us. Local walkers and visitors have helped enormously already but wildlife and family pets are simply not safe here at present. Please prioritise this estate for close monitoring. Beyond Allendale, we urge everyone to get active for wildlife in their own area. The shooting industry simply cannot continue to recklessly put lives at risk like this.
huntinvestigationteam.org 