One of the mysteries of this last winter is the appearance in Norfolk on a Blofield roadside verge of a dead Little Bustard. One would think that this hapless individual having made the journey up from France or Spain had wandered into the path of a passing vehicle and that would be the end of it. Unfortunately the bird had actually been shot and recently died of it’s wounds. Little Bustard is a heavily protected species being on Annex 1 of the European Bird Directive.
Do you remember my post entitled ‘Shoot and Ask Questions Later’? Take another read of the penultimate paragraph.
I just can’t imagine someone would deliberately shoot a Little Bustard and then leave the corpse. I would suggest it was shot as a pheasant, seen for what it was when it was picked up and given it would incriminate the perpetrator if found on his person was left close to where it lie.
The picture of Little Bustards below I took in France. Do they look like Pheasants to you? It has to be said though they do look a lot more like pheasants when they are on the ground.
Perhaps the call for regular eye tests on shotgun holders is well founded.
Letter From Norfolk 