Woman who flew with swans warns of lead danger

A conservationist has welcomed new laws banning the sale of lead ammunition as she warns people are not aware of the scale of the problem affecting wildlife.

Sacha Dench, who lives in Chagford, Devon, is a member of the Lead Ammunition Collective, which campaigned to end the sale of the toxic substance earning the group the RSPB Medal - the charity's highest accolade.

Also known as "The Human Swan", she is best known for flying a paramotor 4,300 miles (7000km) from Arctic Russia to the UK tracking the migration of Bewick's swans.

The Australian-born biologist said lead poisoning was a significant threat to birds across Europe and was one of the issues she explored in her 2019 expedition.

Dench said: "Up to 100,000 water birds in the UK are expected to die each year from lead poisoning, and that's maybe a million across Europe.

"It's a really big effect and enough to be pushing some species towards extinction."

Scientists and conservation groups have long warned lead shotgun pellets can contaminate habitats and harm wildlife after being deposited in the environment.

Dench said many people were unaware of the scale of the problem.

"Every time you shoot a cartridge there can be up to 300 small pellets of lead that are spread into nature," she said.

"Overall in the UK every year that amounts to somewhere between 7,000 and 13,000 tonnes of lead being spread into nature.

"Birds, particularly water birds, will mistake it for food or grit and eat it, and that is ground down in their stomachs. That's how they become lead poisoned."

Legislation banning the sale and use of lead shot in England, Wales and Scotland is set to be brought in from April 2029.

Among those who have already switched away from lead ammunition is deer manager Sharif Adams, who works in woodland in the Teign Valley.

The chairman of the South West branch of the British Deer Society said moving to non-toxic ammunition had been an easy decision.

"The deer management that I do is all conservation-focused," he said.

"So it was a no-brainer to me. Moving away from a toxic substance to something less harmful makes a lot of sense."

He said there were also practical reasons for making the switch, with game dealers increasingly only accepting deer shot using non-lead ammunition.

"Part of deer management is the venison food market, a really important part of it actually, and to be able to supply the human food chain with venison you need to be able to sell to the game dealers as well," he said.

The RSPB medal was received by Dr Ruth Cromie and Prof Debbie Pain on behalf of the Lead Ammunition Collective at the charity's annual general meeting earlier this month.

Dench said the award reflected an unusually broad partnership that had helped bring about change.

"The RSPB Medal is a really big deal," she said.

"It has been won by David Attenborough, it has been won by the King in the past.

"But it's an even bigger deal that it's recognising, on this occasion, not just us but a whole collective of people that you might not necessarily think of as working together for conservation."

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