ANIMAL welfare workers found three wild birds and the most complete bird-trapping kit they had encountered during a raid on a North-East house, a court heard yesterday.

John Tams - also known as John Dugdale - failed to attend but was found guilty of ten charges of possessing the birds, bird trapping cages and bird lime by magistrates atBishop Auckland, County Durham. They were found during a raid on his former home in Byers Green, near Spennymoor, County Dur-ham, by police and RSPCA inspector Gavin Butterfield.

Roger Caton, wildlife inspector for the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) told the court that he believed the birds to be wild.

He said identification rings fitted to the birds' legs to show they had been bred in captivity, were fake and the birds were showing signs of stress.

Kevin Campbell, prosecuting on behalf of the RSPCA, said its bird expert had described the recovered items as the most complete bird trapping kit he had come across in one place.

The court heard that in an interview with Mr Butterfield, 41-year-old Tams claimed he had been given the three birds - a linnet, a goldfinch and a siskin.

He also claimed that the cages found were used for transporting birds and that sedative found in the birds' drinking water was blackcurrant pop.

Sentencing on Tams, of The Avenue, Coxhoe, near Durham City, was adjourned.

Speaking afterwards, Mr Caton said that while bird-trapping was not a new phenomenon, it was vital to crack down on wildlife crimes to protect declining species already under threat from changes to the environment and farming practices.

He said: "Some British birds have declined by 90 per cent in the past 20 years and most have declined by 50 per cent.

"Birds are declining so much that they desperately need conserving.

"Perhaps bird-catching in the past didn't affect numbers as much, but now they have declined to such an extent, it is more important to fight such wildlife crimes as these.