BBC News, UK – Jul 6, 2014
A quarry owner who killed up to 40 young sand martins by bulldozing their whole colony has been fined £400.
In the first case of its kind, Andrew Jackson admitted destroying the nests at Braco, in Perthshire.
Perth Sheriff Court was told birdwatchers had warned Jackson that the colony, which had 300 nests, should be left standing until September.
He moved in with a bulldozer in August, but a sheriff said his actions had been ill-advised rather than wicked.
Jackson, 59, knocked down the colony on 11 August last year, while the protected birds were in their breeding season.
The court was told that Jackson had completed his contract for quarrying sand at Orchil Quarry and planned to restore it to a pond and agricultural land.
Fiscal depute Dawn Samson said: “A witness visited on 4 August and he estimated there were approximately 10 pairs still using the nest holes.
“He returned on 11 August and at that time he noted the two faces which contained the nesting colonies had been flattened and landscaped.
“Potentially each nest hole might have contained four chicks. Potentially we are talking about the death of 40 chicks.”
Jackson, of South Orchil, Braco, admitted intentionally or recklessly damaging, destroying or interfering with the sand martin nests while they were in use.
‘Declining population’
His solicitor John Buchan said Jackson, who at one stage built a hide on the site for photographers and had encouraged the bird colony, believed the breeding season had ended.
Sheriff Michael Fletcher said Jackson had “intentionally destroyed the nests at a time when it was too early to do so, because the birds were still using them”.
He said Jackson’s behaviour had been “ill-advised” rather than “wicked”.
Following the verdict, sand martin expert Edward Cowley said the birds, the smallest member of the swallow family, were finding it more and more difficult to get breeding spaces.
He said: “There is pressure on these birds. The sand martin population is in decline.”
North Wales
