Swifts Nests: illegally blocked or obstructed past and present - FOIs, Police regions and New Petition

[Banstead Swifts]

Dear All

 1.I am preparing a Freedom of Information Request in regard of how many incidents there have been of swift nests being blocked or obstructed reported to 101 and how many of the individuals or businesses were prosecuted.

I will be submitting to Surrey Police, and realistically I'd like to submit to every police service in the UK, but this would create a lot of work for them.  I have instead decided to ask you to share if you have reported a swift or building dependent species crime recently or in the past, and to let me know your Police region. I can then submit a targeted FOI to a handful of Police regions to give us a snapshot of crimes recorded and prosecutions. 

2. I have created a new petition that will make up part of my project on the issue of Wildlife Crime Against Swifts and other building dependent species

Please sign and share.: https://c.org/mvhKZRDpg6

3. If anyone has anything they would like to share about their experience of reporting swift nests being obstructed or blocked, a few lines would be much appreciated. I am looking for comments on:

a. What was the crime reported? Blocked, scaffolding, pipes etc?

b. What did the Police do? 

c. How long did it take to resolve the crime, or was it left?

d. What was the outcome? Were the nests recovered and saved, did the birds abandon and never return.

e. After hearing or witnessing swift wildlife crime, have you ever been aware that the perpetrators were prosecuted?

All of this will help me form an evidenced argument to call for prosecution of wildlife crimes against swifts.

Best

Annie