A campaign has begun online to help find the persons who shot an endangered red-footed falcon which had been spotted by thousands of birdwatchers before it was killed.
The bird was found near Whittlesey in Cambridgeshire in October.
Cambridgeshire Police, the National Wildlife Crime Unit and the RSPB are appealing for anyone with information about the shooting of the protected bird to come forward.
The RSPB is offering a reward of £1,000 for information and that reward has now increased to more than £2,500 after a group called Rare Bird Alert started a fundraising page which had reached £1,500 by Friday morning.
The group said: 'We applaud the RSPB's response, and the tireless and often thankless work they do trying to bring to justice those who illegally persecute our protected birds of prey.
'However we want to raise even more money to add to the reward fund to encourage anyone with information to come forward. We also want to send a strong message that these kinds of crimes against wildlife are socially unacceptable and birders and all lovers of wildlife have had enough.'
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