“Police, camera, no appropriate licence to be at raptor nest” might be a better title for the puff piece we’ve just received from colleagues down South – Chris Visser of the Lancashire Evening Post interviewing Duncan Thomas, Police Wildlife Liaison Officer and saviour of our planet – or at least the Lancashire bit of it, if the article is to be believed. http://www.lep.co.uk/news/Police-protection-of-wildlife.5532271.jp
Hello, Natural England – that photograph accompanying the article: breach of police licence conditions or what? Necessary visit? Is there a crime going on there (apart from the obvious)? Bona fide raptor workers would be severely taken to task for showboating like that, and rightly so too.
In fact the Wildlife Liaison Officer in his comments to Natural England and published in the Shooting Times claims “over disturbance is a well-known reason for failure.” He should, after all, know better than anyone having held his present job for 4, or is it 5 years now. In reality, factual information on this web site highlights a completely different story when it comes to percentage peregrine nest failures on Bowland’s grouse moors. For example taking just 6 peregrine nests located on three shooting estates in the Forest of Bowland this year, nest failures resulting from persecution/interference, varied between 50%, 80% and 100% respectfully. This information is supported by individuals who have worked to conserve birds of prey for the last 43 years, two years before the current Wildlife Officer was born.
The LEP web site version of the article certainly attracted some unfavourable comment. We imagine the newspaper version is safely wrapped around chips by now, hope it doesn’t leave a bad taste in people’s mouths.
Our article on eagle owls got a mention:
“Police have recently been accused by an online blogger of marking a clutch of eagle owl eggs in the Forest of Bowland, leading them to be deserted. The author claims this was against local advice and …”
Well – it was wasn’t it? And didn’t the owls subsequently desert the nest? We are firmly in the “It would be better if you admitted your mistakes and refrained from spouting the same old discredited mantra” camp here.
“… the 41-year old claims nothing could have prepared him for his toughest role yet – Lancashire Police’s wildlife officer”
There are many people around better qualified than us to debunk this blatant piece of self-publicity, and, believe me, ‘the wires are buzzing’ in raptor conservation circles. We’ll conclude by saying we can’t help thinking – for some reason or other, our police wildlife officer’s toughest role is yet to come.
Verdict on the ‘Police, camera, hatching’ article? “Pass the sick bag, Alice … “
Given the complete lack of credibility this individual carries I’m really surprised he’s not elected to set out what he would actually like to achieve and what his priorities are! Given the obvious self-promotion in the Press the people he really needs to convince are the raptor workers and akin corporate organizations.
Traipsing to sites already lost, traipsing to sites for photoshoots……is this what crime prevention is about? And at what cost to the public purse?
So here’s a suggestion, given I guess this site is “patrolled ” every day, set out what your revised , intended strategy is for the future, in detail, on this site, and let’s see what actually motivates the Lancsashire Police thinking in terms of wildlife crime towards raptors. Big boy stuff, which nobody will hold you to account on. We know what the odds are!!
It’s unlikely, John, that you’ll get a reply from the police on any matter on a web site, and particularly on this one where we aspire to ‘tell it how it is’.
Even to a relative newcomer to the murky world of raptor protection such as myself, it’s clear the future strategy will be ‘more of the same’ – but it won’t go unreported if we can help it.
Pants….
Caught….
Down….
With….
Please re-arrange the above. I think all schedule 1 licence holders should send a photocopy to Natural England asking them for permission to pose at nests….and see what they say? Perhaps the may even give guidance on make-up and camera angles?
Why cant they watch the nests from a distance ????
Meconopsis
In reply to Meconopsis, August 15th.
From reading all the interesting and informative information on this website Mec, its pretty apparent and evident that actual nests visits are necessary to ascertain the progress or failure of the sites.
They are all ground nesting as it appears and monitoring from a distance isn’t possible.
However, as has been covered by this site, dont get the wrong image of numerous people making numerous, random visits. It appears the raptor workers coordinate between them selves and the species coordinator for that area and make only the required amount of trips.
From knowing a close friend who is also a raptor worker in an other part of the country, a nest will be visited at most 3 times in a season, but normally only twice. To ascertain eggs laid and young fledged. Causing minimal disturbance and not effecting the birds to the point of causing any problems.
I think the real issue here which has been covered by Circus is the ‘photoshoot’ type pose by the officer.
It is my understanding that the police officer was appointed his position to investigate and bring to justice acts and perpitrators of wild life crime?
However using helicopters and marching across moorland to rare schedule 1 nesting sites, simply for a photograph for the local rag is ludicres and shocking.
I do not pay taxes to fund this kind of behaviour. It is safe to say I feel very let down by the police and their actions.
It is evident and obvious the field workers who compile this website love and cherish the birds they protect. Starting this website is fighting the corner of the raptors of Lancashire and hopefully the world.
However i fail to see any sort of love or passion for these raptors from lancashire constabulary.
Protection of these birds is paramount, a photoshoot for a WLO’s ego and possibly even breaking the law is a distasteful circumstance which should not be allowed to be repeated.
You can prove that nesting is taken place from a mile or more. If thats all you need to know thats fine. However, many raptor workers are not just proving breeding, they are for example involved in long term studies in productivity etc. To collect this data you need to know when and how many eggs are lain, how many hatch and how many fledge. Collecting this data invloves a very brief visit to the nest.
In an area where criminal activity is likely…If you suspect that a nest is going to be “keepered”, then you have got to be able to stand up in court and testify how many eggs were in the nest. Otherwise the keeper simply says there were no eggs…no damage done…
Raptor workers are skilled at knowing when and how to visit a nest causing the minimal disturbance, that how they get their licences. They put the wellfare of the birds first and if there is any doubt about the wisdom of a visit, it is simply put off.
This problem really has to be addressed. To raptor enthusiasts and anyone with a sound knowledge animal behaviour, the crimes being committed here are obvious. unlicensed visiting of a nest, and unnecessary disturbance. But to the average reader of a very public document like a news paper, he is not portraying himself as a good ambassador for wildlife conservation. Without the knowledge that disturbing nests can transpire into nest failure, people could be encouraged to go and have a look at a wild bird nest of any species should they find one. I know that this is a weak argument in the sense that not your average joe public are likely to stumble on a well hidden raptor nest, but the point is it might encourage people to go out looking for nest sites irresponsibly. Articles about wildlife conservation need to explain the facts, tell people how to behave around wild animals. The above article picture is nothing more than a trophy shot that paints a poor picture of conduct.
Saviour of our planet, is this some kind of a joke?this is the Wildlife Crime Officer who poses in front of a nest site he is not licensed to even be near, looking more like a gamekeeper than a policeman, marks eggs causing the parent birds to desert the nest site and uses people to help him with no expert knowledge of the very creatures he is sworn to protect.
Be afraid, be very afraid, especially if you are a bird of prey supposedly under his care.
Perhaps the newspaper should be given the other side of the story.
It may well be the case that the newspaper will get another story featuring PC Thomas soon – if the investigation into his activities ever reaches a conclusion!
I have set up a group on Facebook to highlight the dangerous position of the Eagle Owls on Bowland’s moorlands, I will also report on any other persecution of birds of prey which takes place in the Forest of Bowland this year.
The link is below, feel free to join it and make any comments, I hope to make the world aware of this disgraceful situation, the more it is publicised and supported the better. The situation in Bowland may change, as local gamekeepers at this time of year have been known to visit the breeding valley, including the nesting territory with dogs at night looking for fox dens. Should United Utilities allow this activity to take place resulting in the nest failure I shall keep everyone fully informed.
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=339035130860&ref=mf
I have made a promise to give my time and effort to these wonderful owls and will continue to do my very best to help them.