Barnes Thomas, a former London art dealer who appeared on the Bear Grylls reality series The Island, has lost a roughly £500,000 legal battle with his neighbours in St Just, Cornwall, over the deaths of three prized racing falcons. A High Court judge had ruled that noisy building work at his home caused the birds to die from stress during the breeding season, and Thomas's attempt to overturn that decision has now been dismissed by the Court of Appeal.

The birds, gyr falcons owned by Raptors of Penwith Ltd — run by brothers Martin and Scott Nicholas — included one race-winner said to be worth £150,000. The original ruling found that a JCB bucket had been raised in the birds' line of sight for three days, and Thomas and his company, Upper Cot Estate Limited, were ordered to pay compensation and costs of about £500,000. Thomas, 40, argued it was unfair to blame him for the deaths of such "incredibly sensitive" birds, but three appeal judges upheld the earlier findings in a split decision, with Lady Justice Whipple saying he should not act with complete disregard for his neighbours' interests.