A couple of weeks ago Shooting Times published an interview with Police Supt Nick Lyall, Chair of the Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group (RPPDG).
The interview took place in February 2019, shortly after the Moorland Association, BASC, Countryside Alliance, National Gamekeepers’ Organisation and Country Land & Business Association chose to boycott Nick’s first RPPDG meeting in a desperate attempt to block progress (see here, here, here, here).
It also took place before the publication of the damning scientific paper showing the link between English grouse moors and extensive hen harrier persecution.
Here’s the interview:
Let’s congratulate the editor of Shooting Times for commissioning and then publishing this, especially at a time when prominent organisations from the game shooting industry were giving Nick Lyall a metaphorical two-fingered salute by challenging his integrity and refusing to attend a so-called ‘partnership’ meeting.
The congratulations would have been more hearty had Shooting Times taken the opportunity to publish the RSPB’s Raptor Crime Hotline number (0300 999 0101) one year after it was launched, but that still seems too difficult. Why is that? Even after the Raptor Crime Hotline was mentioned by Nick in the interview!
The interview itself wasn’t very enlightening, but that’s probably more to do with the style of presentation than anything else. We’re so used to listening to interviews on radio or podcasts, or watching them on TV, where both the question and answer can be heard, allowing us to place the answers in context. But for this interview, we have to rely upon someone else’s interpretation and that’s unsatisfactory for an issue as contentious as illegal raptor persecution because inevitably some answers will be given out of context.
For example, there is this floating paragraph:
‘Later in the interview, he [Nick Lyall] compared shooters involved with raptor offences to the smaller number of corrupt police officers‘.
Really? For such a significant (alleged) statement, it would have been good to have seen the context of that part of the conversation. As a stand alone statement it seems even more unlikely when you read what Nick had said about his understanding of who was committing raptor persecution crimes:
“…….there is clearly organised criminality in terms of multi-million pound industries that are committing persecution offences……..”
Gosh. Which “multi-million pound industry” is he thinking of?
There was also an odd bit at the end of the article where Nick is quoted during a discussion on the use of covert cameras:
“I wouldn’t want to think that I’m sitting in my backyard and somebody is watching me without the authority to do so. So yes, I completely understand where people’s concerns would come from that respect“.
Again, this appears to have been taken out of context. We know, having had conversations with Nick about covert surveillance and the RIPA legislation, that he fully understands that covert cameras aren’t placed anywhere near anyone’s dwelling, let alone pointing at someone’s backyard, as this quote suggests. Rather, cameras are placed on remote moorland, miles from anyone’s house and any chance of intruding on their private lives. Typically they are pointed at the nests of Schedule 1 birds, which nobody should be visiting without a Schedule 1 Disturbance Licence anyway, or at illegally-set pole traps to find out who is operating the trap. To us, it looks like this quote has been included, out of context, simply to play to the shooting industry’s hatred of RSPB covert surveillance which, time and time again, has revealed what really goes on when the criminals think no-one is watching. E.g. here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here
Fortunately Nick Lyall is savvy and proactive enough to be able to present his own views, via his twitter account (@SuptNickLyall) and via his RPPDG blog (here). We know that he continues to work hard behind the scenes and we’re looking forward to seeing the launch of his Operation Owl website in the very near future, which aims to educate, inform and inspire people to get involved with tackling illegal raptor persecution.
Raptor Persecution UK 
Having those that are involved in shooting on board is the right approach. There are a great many persons who shoot that are very much against illegal persecution and can and do provide vital intellegence.
However Nick has to make sure he does not misrepresent the extent of the problem. The industry has a major problem and the systematic killing of wildlife is endemic. Offences are being carried out to such levels that entire species are threatened in particular hen harriers and goshawk.
Sugar coating in an attempt to gain support is not what we want.
I’ll speak to Nick and Patrick and see if they are happy for me to upload the full audio recording somewhere. 55 minutes of listening pleasure.
That would be fantastic Matt. Perhaps you could also explain why the RSPB Raptor Crime Hotline was not published in the article, given that shooters are so anti raptor persecution.
I hope that Nick Lyall can make something of the RPPDG, which has up to now delivered absolutely nothing meaningful and has been almost fog bound ( See NERF website). I do not hold out great hope but we shall see. To get anywhere it is going to take an admission on the part of the game lobby representatives that there is in fact a major problem to solve, something up to now they have absolutely denied. What we don’t want or need is more of the pointless obfuscation, philibustering and apparent mismanagement of minutes. Good minutes are crucial to any progress at all and of course to transparency. Having spoken to Nick on the phone and by e-mail before he visited a notorious North Yorkshire estate I was promised a post visit update, I am still waiting. We need an Honest antidote to the recent tripe promulgated by the likes of BASC’s Duncan Thomas just to start with.
“…to change its focus from enforcement to raising awareness” “take Operation Owl..anti-persecution initiative and change it into a nationwide awareness raising drive”…..If those were direct quotes I find that to be profoundly depressing. The same old waffle. Awareness initiatives, protocols, partnerships…what we want from our police is ..enforcement!…Chris Packham , Ruth Tingay, the RSPB these are the people who are the experts at raising awareness and doing a fine job of it at present….please just get on with the enforcement part of your job, one or two successful prosecutions in local areas, which are then taken up by both local and national press and media are worth any amount of “national awareness”…..
I couldn’t agree more Dave, this is what we always need more enforcement, no waffling, no hen harrier brood meddling or southern reintroduction all that money should be spent on enforcement too. Gloves off lets give the criminals a hard time. Best period for Harriers in recent times——–during Operation Artemis.
Well said Dave I agree totally …..legislation without enforcement is just good advice.
Nick will be judged by bums on seats….
Surely if Nick Lyall was unhappy about the presentation of this article he would clarify, either on Twitter or on his blog.
After the recent paper on sat tagged fatalities he wrote on his blog
‘The evidence reinforces the sheer size and scale of the ongoing and relentless persecution of our birds.’
As someone who has spent much of my lifetime operating ‘under-cover’ in the world of local gamekeepers, landowners, farmers, hunters and to some degree falconers, with a principal aim of gathering information to help understand their mindset, I find it extremely disappointing that a handful of influential fellow raptor workers are unwilling to confide in me or appreciate the fact I am totally on the side of the raptors. As a result I find myself entangled to some degree in a web of suspicion and mistrust, for reasons I must confess to not understanding. Among other criticisms, I have been accused (behind my back) of passing information to gamekeepers and farmers which are critical to the welfare of the birds. Myself and others who work closely with me are equally mystified as to how or why such suspicion has been kindled. This has led to sometimes awkward criticisms and judgements being made, often by relatively new or less experienced members of local Raptor Study Groups, amounting in a few cases to hostility or even mistrust at my handling of data. This, apart from being hurtful to myself as a professional and trustworthy ecologist and harrier researcher, without a single proven stain on my character, makes my efforts relatively futile within my study area. The reason for this apparent mistrust, which has even resulted in a belief that I have been seeking intelligence and data purely for monetary benefit, could not be further from the truth. I express my personal disappointment, but am not alone and would appeal for greater trust and less suspicion to be established among like-minded raptor workers. We should leave that line of mistrust and suspicion to the corrupt minds of so many gamekeepers and others associated with so-called field sports.