Drone footage of pheasant poachers in Hampshire captured men catapulting wild birds on farmland at Linkenholt on 7 October, with the car tracked across fields and crops by police-trained volunteers. The video led Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary to one 29-year-old driver, who admitted his involvement and was dealt with by way of a community resolution.
The footage showed at least three men taking aim at the birds from the windows of a Honda CR-V. The vehicle left tyre tracks as it moved through the fields, giving police a route to follow after the drone recorded the incident.
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary
Police said one of the men was later visited and ordered to complete a victim awareness course. The 29-year-old driver was also issued with a Community Protection Notice Warning, a step that could eventually lead to a prosecution if the warning is not followed.
The case came from a civilian drone project funded by Hampshire and Isle of Wight's Police and Crime Commissioner, Test Valley Borough Council and North Wessex Downs National Landscape. The force said the scheme is one of the first of its kind in the country and is used to help tackle hare coursing, poaching and burglaries.
Linkenholt on 7 October
The wider picture is not evenly resolved. The footage shows at least three men involved, but police have described consequences only for one of them, leaving the outcome for the others out of the public record.
That leaves the 29-year-old driver as the clearest example of how the drone operation is being used: a filmed offence, an identified driver, a community resolution and a warning that can still be turned into prosecution if the notice is ignored.
