A Freedom of Information request I submitted recently to the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority has revealed that the RSPB has walked out of the so-called Birds of Prey ‘Partnership’ after the Moorland Association engaged in what I would call its all too familiar propaganda techniques.
You may recall this so-called ‘partnership’ in Yorkshire was established a couple of years ago, with representatives from the grouse-shooting industry, the raptor conservation community, Natural England, Police, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and the Nidderdale AONB Authority.
I blogged about it here and predicted its demise as it was modelled on the similar (now disbanded) ‘bird of prey partnership’ in the Peak District National Park, which, unsurprisingly given the participants from the grouse-shooting industry, was an abject failure (see here).
Here is some interesting correspondence dated 5th May 2023 between the RSPB and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, released under the FoI request, detailing why the RSPB has walked away from this latest fiasco. Personal details have been redacted:
The reasons for the RSPB’s withdrawal really shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s been following these tedious so-called ‘partnerships’, which all fail for the same reason. The Moorland Association (the grouse moor owners’ lobby group in England) has form for making ‘modifications’ to official partnership statements which appears to be intended to distort the reporting of on-going incidents of raptor persecution (e.g. see here).
Interestingly, ‘someone’ obviously got wind of my FoI request and has tried to shift the blame away from the Moorland Association. There’s an article in today’s Yorkshire Post, clearly timed to be released at the same time my FoI response was due, presumably in an attempt to influence the narrative as they knew I’d be writing about the RSPB’s withdrawal.
The Yorkshire Post article doesn’t mention anything about the RSPB’s dissatisfaction with the Moorland Association’s antics, but instead places the blame firmly on Natural England! Here are some excerpts:
The authority’s natural environment champion Mark Corner told members progress on tackling the wildlife crime was being overstated and the partnership was “ineffective” and “poorly led” by Natural England.
Mr Corner said while there had been modest improvement on fledging of birds, some 21 hen harriers had disappeared from North Yorkshire last year.
He said: “We have had some horrific cases of some chicks being trampled to death and birds being decapitated. We are fooling ourselves if we think this is some progress.
“I see an increase in public awareness and revulsion of the sickening stuff that’s happening inside the national park. I am personally ashamed of what is happening.”
These are strong and welcome words from the Park Authority, and although criticism of Natural England’s role is deserved (more on that soon), it’s a shame that the Moorland Association’s shenanigans weren’t called out.
The Chief Executive of the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, David Butterworth, has now issued the following statement:
I’ve got more to write about the Yorkshire Dales Bird of Prey ‘Partnership’… more soon.
Raptor Persecution UK 
This is hardly a shock, it was something many of us saw coming from the very beginning. It seems that whenever such an initiative is started or suggested that the shooting lobby organisations always want seats at the table, something it is both hard to deny yet has always been counter productive, in part because they are the many in organisation terms and they all want “in”. This leads to an always pro shooting bias and not a balance at all, plus many of the shooting organisations by their very nature cannot deliver on the ground. One would question why the NGO and MA need to be present, one as it does representing employees of the other. They also don’t really seem to want progress it is about filibustering to ensure that no real progress happens. It is a sad fact of life that the shooting industry’s representative organisations insist on being at the table but have a near total negative approach to real progress and change.
If we take this in comparison to the pages of these organisations on social media, those of us with a different view find very quickly our participation in any debate there, quickly stifled by us being banned from any discussions at all. To me this means they don’t want proper discussion or progress and want to be there to prevent that very thing happening. Then again I have absolutely no faith in NE being honest participants or indeed the brokers of any such discussions, they seem far too pro the grouse industry rather than their natural conservation allies.
Well that’s a surprise said no one at all……ever.
It was always clear to me that the the Moorland Assoc and their mates were in attendance for obscuration of the facts and to hinder communications to the general public.
What I think is more worrying is the role of NE in all of this. They did not keep their partners appraised of the Whernside atrocity and they did not even attend the meeting following this crime. The official record says that they did not mention it to the National Park until Nov 2022, nearly 6 months after the event.
I have also asked NE whether the eggs that were destroyed at Whernside a year earlier, in 2021, were at the same location and therefore linked The National Park referred me to NE as they didn’t have access to the information but I have had no reply to my 2 written enquiries from Natural England.
Based on my past experience of Natural England it is them that need to be held to account now. “Open and transparent” they are not!
Par for the course. Right back to the Ladder Hills Initiative in 1998 it has been obvious to me — and no doubt to many others — that the Shooting Industry, in all it’s manifestations, have been charged with founding and developing as many organisations as possible to act as Intelligence sources.
(Ladder Hills was a joint operation where conservationists worked hand in hand with gamekeepers and factors to locate and record hen harrier nests. Gamekeepers were made aware of all nesting sites. When they went back the next year both the numbers of harriers were reduced and the some of the nesting areas burned out. Naturally this raised suspicions)
It would appear to an observer, given the different end goals of the parties involved, that the gamekeepers or other agents of the Shooting Industry had used the information given to them the previous year to further persecute hen harriers.
By bringing highly skilled raptor workers into a situation that pressed then into imparting confidential to potential persecutionists (64 per cent of all individuals convicted of game related crimes were gamekeepers and 58 per cent of those convicted of crimes against raptors were also gamekeepers) they inadvertantly opened the trapdoor on the Trojan Horse.
Until the owners and management of these DGM and pheasant shooting concerns take concrete action by publicly supporting measures recommended by the RSPB and other related groups and making management changes in their working methods then I feel that any co-operation with the aforesaid concerns, especially joint initiatives, should be suspended.
To continue working with them in the areas of research or monitoring is akin to handing burglars the blueprint of the security measures used in protecting their property.
Whilst I agree with you George there have always been those amongst raptor workers with their own selfish agendas prepared to work with estates whatever the rest of us think. Indeed to even usurp something that was already being done, for their own miserable purposes. Also whilst the MA insist on being at the table their own constitution means they are extremely unlikely to deliver any conservation benefits that any of their number deem controversial or undesirable to their interests.
Well done RSPB. The robust response that the situation demands.
Wouldn’t it be helpful if the RSPB was vocal about its exit from this sham – especially given its huge profile? Why was a FOI required?
Could we get the Stop Oil chaps , to disrupt the Moors? Surely most of the Twats who shoot Grouse will have an interest in the Oil business
And isn’t that par for the course here. You lot should remember where most harriers successfully fledge. Ban grouse shooting and harriers will quickly die out altogether.
Try telling the truth occasionally.
Oh you mean they’ll be as bereft of hen harriers as Mull and Orkney?
Conservation is for the benefit of everyone, This doesn’t chime with Tory voting landowners, hence the transparent decline of pine Martins, wild cats, Eagles, Hawks, Falcons, Harriers Ravens, & anything else that interferes with a days killing for fun.
Pleased to see the RSPB standing up to the systemic evils of grouse shooting.
Please do not forget that both Natural England and the Yorkshire Dales National Park (YDNP) are funded by, accountable to and therefore politically controlled by Defra. I do think that if the YDNP were independent of their masters there would be a very different perspective taken by them on these issues that concern us all. I am sure David Butterworth (CEO) will correct me if I am wrong in my summation.
I think the fragrant Ms Thérèse Coffey and her Department are happy to manipulate matters behind the scenes, stay out of the headlines and at the same time support her friends in the shooting industry.
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Well done RSPB the conservation of all Birds whether birds of prey or not dare i mention animals and mammals are all part of our ecosystem human beings can not survive without it
I think a lot more could be done to protect these beautiful birds of prey
Yet more evidence ( if any were needed) that Driven Grouse shooting should be banned immediately.