WILD birds in East Lancashire have been targeted despite them being legally protected for the past 60 years, according to the RSPB.

The animal charity’s Birdcrime 2012 report includes the destruction of a peregrine nest in Bowland in June 2012 in which three peregrines chicks were found dead and the shooting of a buzzard, which later had to be euthanised.

The Birdcrime report follows on from news earlier this year that hen harriers failed to breed successfully in England for the first time since the 1960s despite enough suitable habitat to support over 300 pairs.

Martin Harper, the RSPB’s director of conservation said: “Current legislation has failed to protect the hen harrier. The absence of successfully breeding hen harriers in England this year is a stain on the conscience of the country.”