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Forest of Bowland, including West Lancashire
The 2010 season has been one of the most unusual, not least because Natural England found itself in the invidious position of having to respond to complaints made to its licensing office about the activities of the Lancashire Police Wildlife Crime Officer (WLCO) Pc Duncan Thomas, on whom they are reliant for assistance in the delivery of enforcement in respect of the criminal breaches of wildlife legislation in Lancashire.
The inappropriate behaviour complained of by the local raptor group was non-compliance by the WLCO in relation to his disturbance licence conditions, which is a breach of the wildlife legislation that he is expected to enforce, hence the difficulty.
Natural England responded to the complaint by writing to the officer concerned reminding him of the necessity to adhere to the conditions of his police disturbance licence. It is believed that this is the first time that Natural England has had to issue such a reminder to a serving WLCO and hopefully it will be the last.
The disturbance licence issued to all Wildlife Crime Officers can only be used for the purpose of visiting Schedule 1 nests to prevent and detect criminal offences only. Without explanation this officer had initiated visits to nest sites for what could only be described as monitoring purposes, which is operating outside the licence conditions.
As part of the process of trying to resolve concerns raised by the complainant, methodology changes were put in place by NE as a possible way forward in resolving these issues. NE decided to place 4 peregrine nests under the supervision of Lancashire’s WLCO for the duration of the breeding season. This was undertaken in the form of a field protocol.
Dr Mark Avery, the RSPB’s Director of Conservation, handed a petition to Wildlife Minister Huw Irranca Davies – signed by more 200,000 people – demanding an end to the killing of birds of prey.
For the full story, please follow this link [...]
The 2009 season has been very eventful and in many respects a very disappointing one for so called “protected” raptors within the area of Lancashire’s Forest of Bowland. Sadly, and somewhat surprisingly, we have to report that the most unsettling aspect of the season’s events has been the ongoing actions of the Area’s Police Wildlife Crime Officer (WCO) in his continual attempts to undermine raptor protection work in the region, including that being undertaken by licensed members of the local Raptor Study Group. In particular the WCO has seemingly made a determined bid to discredit one of the regions most respected and experienced raptor workers, Terry Pickford. Earlier this year Mr Pickford even faced the prospect of having his vehicle illegally seized after this WCO, using the Police Reform Act 2002, asked a second officer to issue Mr. Pickford with two Section S59 warning notices for what was alleged to be ‘inappropriate use of his vehicle’. Following a complaint to the police by Mr. Pickford, the Section S59 notice issued was subsequently withdrawn and Mr. Pickford received an unreserved apology from Lancashire Constabulary. If readers are confused or have no idea how the police attempt to use the Police Reform Act 2002 as in this instance, you can learn more here.
Continue reading End of Season Raptor Report 2009, Forest of Bowland.
This year looks like being one of the worst on record for crimes against peregrines.
The RSPB has been flooded with reports of birds being poisoned, trapped and shot and or their chicks being taken from the nest.
Reported incidents already number more than 50 for the year, with more waiting to be processed. There were 79 incidents reported for the whole of 2007.
As a result, the RSPB is urging the Government to add peregrines to its list of priority species for wildlife crime enforcement.
Among the incidents reported to the RSPB this year are:
Shooting: A dead peregrine was found peppered with shot in the Forest of Dean. An x-ray revealed the bird, a seven-year-old female, had been blasted at close range with a shotgun.
Continue reading RSPB Press Release 1 July: Peregrines in 2009 – Shot, Poisoned and Trapped
As the season draws to a rapid close, we thought that it would be a suitable time to highlight the contrast between the productivity from three peregrine nest sites established on moorland owned by United Utilities and three additional occupied peregrine territories on a neighbouring keepered private estate.
Continue reading Nest Productivity Update: 11 June 2009
Two more pigeons have been found staked out at the same location as detailed in our article of May 13th 09. The first pigeon was found by a passer-by and released. Then two days later, another pigeon was found, again at the same location, staked out. Now it’s got full police attention, and this time they are investigating the matter in a forceful manner.
You can read the press release at the BBC. Continue reading Attempt to Poison a Nesting pair of Peregrine Falcons – update 06.06.09
Unfortunately the field worker who attended site 1 didn’t have his camera with him at the time so no images to accompany this update… We do apologise for this… However 2 healthy chicks are reported as of Sunday the 17th of May 2009. Further checks on the site will be carried out in the coming weeks. [...]
Quite obviously due to the issues raised by this website the safety and success of all nesting peregrines and other birds of prey in the Bowland area is our paramount concern. The safety and security of these birds will not under any circumstances be put at jeopardy by our group and we keep an avid keen eye on them to try and deter any unsavoury folk from perpetrating acts of persecution along with our scientific research (scientific research is not any sort of direct experiments, so don’t be alarmed. The recording of sites, eggs laid, chicks hatched and chicks fledged is the scientific ‘bit’). Continue reading UU Site 1 – 4 Healthy and advanced chicks but a long way to go! 18.5.09
In the many years that field workers have been monitoring and studying in Bowland, a lot of experience is gained about individual sites, birds and rearing capabilities. These can obviously vary as the same bird and even same pair of birds aren’t guaranteed to be in the same site every year, but to a point, over time you gather a good understanding for each site.
Site 6 is a new one but we are fairly confident that it is the same pair of birds from a previously well used site in the near area which obviously isn’t occupied this year.
This understanding of the birds gives a great insight when inspecting. For example some falcons and tiercels will be completely silent until field workers are within 30-50metres of the nest. Other pairs will be vocal the moment a human or any sort of disturbance that they deem intolerable is in sight – often when you are well in excess of 300-400 meters away. It has to be remembered that Birds Of Prey have tremendously good eye sight, much better than the best pair of binoculars money can buy. Continue reading Site 6 Private Estate 18.5.2009 – Persecution or Natural Causes? You decide!
Private Estates Nest 3
Visiting any private estate in the Forest of Bowland to examine Peregrine nests usually leads to a very disappointing and sad experience. Nests that had been located earlier in the spring containing complete clutches of eggs are, when revisited, found to contain a single chick, dead embryos or eggs which have failed to hatch at all. In the worst scenario, the nest is completely empty and deserted. Today was a mixture of both.
To my complete surprise this morning, when I examined site 3, three eggs had already hatched successfully and the fourth was on the verge of hatching. What a shock to my system, but I felt sheer euphoria; throughout the 3 decades I have been watching this territory tenanted by a variety of different pairs over the thirty years, never before has anyone recorded a nest on this estate containing 3 chicks, possibly 4 by the end of the day. This site will now be carefully monitored and photographed during the next five weeks up until all chicks – god willing – fledge. Any disappointing news, together with good, will of course be posted on the web site at suitable intervals.
Continue reading Private Estates 3 & 5 – update
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The 2010 season has been one of the most unusual, not least because Natural England found itself in the invidious position of having to respond to complaints made to its licensing office about the activities of the Lancashire Police Wildlife Crime Officer (WLCO) Pc Duncan Thomas, on whom they are reliant for assistance in the delivery of enforcement in respect of the criminal breaches of wildlife legislation in Lancashire.
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