MoD campaign to stop killing of songbirds on Cyprus hailed a success

Poachers killed 800,000 birds on UK base in 2016 but 72% drop was recorded in last yearWhen Britain's armed forces minister, Mark Lancaster, assumed office he was surprised by the amount of letters in his mailbag regarding an issue the military would not ordinarily address. One after the other spoke of the killing of migratory songbirds on Cyprus. Hundreds of thousands of robins, blackcaps, thrushes and other much-loved garden species were being illegally slaughtered by trappers on Ministry of Defence land. Was there nothing he could do?Lancaster, who served in Cyprus during a gap year commission in the army in 1987, resolved to right the wrong. He made good on the promise last weekend. Continue reading...