We all know theres an unpleasant side to most of our birding sites. Illegal hunting is clearly the worst, but also fly-tipping, off-roading, louts, arson, etc are all in there

Months ago, I met someone shooting rabbits on a LNR, and I risked challenging him. More recently, Ive talked with birders & photographers about hunters flushing Woodcock with dogs, and hunting Roe Deer with dogs. Hare coursing also still happens

Please, please, please, report these events. If the offence involves any sort of firearms or weapons, or you feel threatened, the Police want you to dial 999. For lesser offences, use either 999 or 101 as you feel appropriate. The Police really dont mind a 999 call if theres a crime in progress, if you feel even slightly threatened, or even if youre just not sure what to do. If you're concerned enough to phone, they will take it seriously

Please also inform the site owner: LWT, CWT, Forestry Commission or whatever. I hope readers will add contact details below

Some extra thoughts:

- If theres even the slightest personal risk, get away from the crime before doing anything else. When youre there, just politely ignore the activity without looking, without discussion & move on, whatever youre feeling inside. Ive done that overseas several times with armed people - it works. People with guns or hunting dogs can have serious attitude problems

- If you can do it without being detected, take photos of people or vehicles, but do it safely

- Inform other local birders

- Consider carefully how soon you might revisit that site

- Its important for the Police and site owners to know about these events, even if they cant act immediately

- Be aware of what hunting is legal, and when

Feel free to mention incidents on this thread, but do report it properly too. Very importantly, do not report site details of an offence online here or elsewhere - hunters (etc) often read blogs like this for info. And anyway, Ian will delete site info