Man hands himself in over peregrine laser incident

Police investigating a laser being shone into a large bird box containing protected birds said a suspect had identified himself to officers.

A conservationist said the incident involving peregrine falcons at St Peter and St Paul's church in Cromer on Saturday "could have been fatal".

It caused the female peregrine to flee her nest and chick, and not return for several hours.

Norfolk Police said a man in his 40s from the Cromer area had apologised and said he had made a genuine mistake.

The man, who police have not named, went to Cromer police station on Saturday.

A spokeswoman said the incident was dealt with by way of a community resolution and it was agreed the laser would be destroyed.

He also agreed to make a donation to the Cromer Peregrine Project and would engage in a formal discussion with a police officer about the safe use of lasers.

Chris Skipper from the project said: "It's good he handed himself in, rather than us not knowing who did it, or why he did it.

"She [the peregrine] doesn't expect to have the box bathed in green light at that time of night."

Mr Skipper added that the falcons were now "back to normal" and the chick fledged for the first time on Monday.

He previously told the BBC: "She [the female peregrine] stood on the chick as she took flight. Thankfully it was only on its tail, but if it had been on its head it could have been bad news.

"And if it had happened a couple of weeks back when the chick was a lot younger and its mother was gone a few hours, it could have been fatal."

The large bird box was set up in 2018 and the peregrines nest at the church every year, attracting thousands of visitors.

Peregrines are protected under the Wildlife and Countryside Act and it is a criminal offence to disturb nesting birds.

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