Wildlife

Buzzard UK Recovery and Welfare Ecology

Common buzzards have recovered strongly in the UK following protection but face ongoing threats from illegal persecution and secondary poisoning.

Key Facts

Buzzard numbers increased from approximately 30,000 pairs in 1990 to over 60,000 pairs by 2010
Recovery followed legal protection and reduced gamekeeper persecution on many estates
Buzzards are generalist predators taking rabbits, voles, earthworms and carrion
Illegal poisoning using banned pesticides remains a welfare concern on some game estates
Second-generation rodenticides accumulate in buzzards through contaminated prey causing anticoagulant poisoning

Welfare Considerations

Illegal persecution including poisoning causes painful deaths for individual buzzards and suppresses populations on some upland estates. Rodenticide accumulation through the food chain causes haemorrhagic death without obvious external cause. Legal protection must be effectively enforced to translate into individual welfare improvement.

What You Can Do

Report suspected raptor poisoning to the police and RSPB Investigations team
Support RSPB Wild Justice legal challenges to illegal raptor persecution
Advocate for mandatory toxicology testing of dead raptors found near game estates
Avoid rodenticide use and choose non-toxic alternatives to protect raptor food chains