A few weeks ago I presented a webinar for the Yorkshire-based charity, Friends of the Dales, as part of its Eyes to the Skies campaign, which launched last year to raise awareness about the illegal killing of birds of prey in the Yorkshire Dales National Park.
My talk was about how the long-term illegal killing of raptors in Scotland had led to the direct consequence of a 2024 parliamentary decision to introduce grouse moor licensing north of the border.
So, not specifically about raptor persecution in the Yorkshire Dales, but, given that the Westminster Government has just announced its intention to consider the licensing of all gamebird shooting in England, it seemed timely to talk through the Scottish experience to give people an idea of what might lay ahead.
The webinar has now been uploaded to YouTube and is available to watch on the Friends of the Dales channel here, or you can watch it directly from here:
It’s one of four webinars in the Friends of the Dales’ Eyes to the Skies campaign. The other three are:
Kate Jennings, UK Head of Site Conservation & Species Policy at the RSPB, who talked about the work of the RSPB’s Investigations Team and reiterated the RSPB’s stance on licensing for gamebird shooting due to its links to illegal raptor persecution (available on YouTube, here).
Detective Inspector Mark Harrison from the National Wildlife Crime Unit (NWCU), who talked about the work of the Unit and specifically about the work of the Hen Harrier Taskforce (available on YouTube, here).
Indy Kiemel Greene and Adrian Rowe from the charity Hen Harrier Action, who talked about Hen Harriers and the work of the charity to raise awareness about the illegal persecution of this species (available on YouTube, here).
Unsurprisingly, some members of the gamebird shooting industry have not been at all happy about the Friends of the Dales’ awareness-raising campaign, nor their choice of speakers. I can’t think why.
Nor have they been happy with the petition launched by Friends of the Dales, calling the UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Mary Creagh MP) to bring in legal reform to help stop the illegal persecution of birds of prey. The petition has secured over 6,000 signatures so far, and needs many more. Please consider signing it, and if you already have (thank you), please share it with your friends and families.
Raptor Persecution UK 