Sir Ian Botham has threatened the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds with a lawsuit, claiming the charity made libellous comments about him on the BBC last week.
In his column in the Mail on Sunday, Botham said his lawyers have written to the conservation organisation. He claims the charity “accused him of illegally killing birds of prey”.
Botham fronts You Forgot the Birds, a grassroots campaign started by shooting enthusiasts, and his son Liam runs a grouse shoot. He says the allegations are entirely untrue.
“I was more than a little annoyed when the charity accused me on the BBC of illegally killing birds of prey," he wrote. "Have they heard of the law of libel? I don't take kindly to being lied about and my lawyers – who make me look like a pussycat – have written to the RSPB.”
Botham’s column also claimed that he had received a letter from the Advertising Standards Authority confirming it “had forced the RSPB to withdraw two advertising claims which were 'misleading'” over its income spending. Where the RSPB claimed it spent “90 per cent of its £128m income on conservation”, Botham said the reality was “closer to 26 per cent.”
Martin Harper, director of conservation at the RSPB, released a statement over the weekend which said: "We can confirm that we received a letter from lawyers acting on behalf of You Forgot the Birds.
“Our lawyers have responded and the matter is now in their hands. With that in mind, we do not wish to comment further at this stage".
The latest round of allegations comes in the wake of the disappearance of three male hen harriers in Lancashire earlier this month. The bird of prey species is the most endangered in the UK and the disappearance of the birds led to two active nests being abandoned. It is thought only one active hen harrier nest now remains in the area.
Botham and You Forgot the Birds said the RSPB should have tried to incubate the abandoned eggs but instead spent its time "slurring gamekeepers". The RSPB have said that Lancashire police will be investigating the possibility that the male birds were illegally killed.
