RSPB accused over felling of 100,000 trees

ONE of Britain’s biggest wildlife charities could face a multimillion-pound fine after felling an estimated 100,000 trees without a licence.

The RSPB appears to have broken the law when it cleared almost 100 acres of Highland forest, despite failing to renew its logging licence.

Work is being carried out as part of a project at Forsinard Flows reserve in Sutherland, where the RSPB is restoring bog and peatland to boost birdlife with the aid of a £4.5million grant from the Her- itage Lottery Fund. The Forestry Commission has investigated the case and is shortly expected to reveal if it will use its powers to prosecute the RSPB, which could be ordered to restore the trees it felled through an ‘administrative error’.

The organisation has Forestry Commission support for the clearance but the work was suspended in March when it was discovered the felling licence had not been renewed. It is unclear exactly how much the RSPB could be fined, but it may be up to £9million.

An insider said: ‘It’s a huge area, planted 30 years ago. It’s like speeding – if you are going over the speed limit, you are breaking the law, full stop.’

Drew Graham, a sub- contractor who carried out the felling, confirmed: ‘We had seen paperwork at the start and it was all in place. I think there’s been a lapse of people dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s rather than malicious wrongdoing.’

A spokesman for the RSPB said: ‘We’re waiting to hear from Forestry Commission Scotland as to what the investigations find.

‘Ultimately the responsibility falls to ourselves, to an administrative oversight. We’ve not resumed felling because it is the breeding season for the birds.

‘All of our operations up there support a huge amount of local jobs. We’ve been active up there for years. It’s been about restoration of the blanket bog habitat.’

The spokesman said the RSPB had since been issued with a new licence.

The Forestry Commission website clearly states that logging without a licence ‘is an offence... and anyone involved can be prosecuted’.

A spokesman for Forestry Commission Scotland said: ‘Two specific sites, both on RSPB-owned land, were the focus of our investigation into the alleged unauthorised felling of around 3,300 tons of mixed conifers, mainly lodgepole pine.

‘We have concluded our investigation and are in the process of finalising our response.’

‘Anyone involved can be prosecuted’