Gems from the written evidence 18 – Jim Welford

I found this account, from someone who knows Walshaw Moor and the North York Moors, very strong. here are some excerpts:

• I’ve been a birdwatcher as long as I can remember, covering many locations, mainly in Yorkshire.  Taking a job in Halifax in 2003 gave me easy after work access to the surrounding moorland, there’s not a lot up there but I found myself spending increasing amounts of time up on the moors watching and photographing the specialists Merlin, Long Eared Owls, Short Eared Owls, Little Owls, Peregrine Falcons and Twite.  I have still never seen Hen Harriers up there despite ideal habitat.
• The moor I spent most time on was Walshaw Moor, but around 2010 an already over-managed moorland began changing, more drainage ditches went in, a large grassland fire burnt down a stand of trees that Long Eared Owls nested in and the Moorland Association ‘improved’ the moor by showering it with lime from a helicopter. I still believe this burning was a deliberate act to clear this area.  The result was the birds I went up to see became much harder to find and I stopped going up there.
• Across Calderdale I was talking to the gamekeeper on a different estate, he readily told me that peregrines and harriers were a danger to his livelihood and would not be tolerated on the estate.  A few years later I found a pair of agitated peregrines a mile or so up the clough, it was the same estate and I contacted the local raptor worker…   A week later the chicks were gone, there may be a natural explanation but having been told by the gamekeeper that he wouldn’t tolerate their presence one is led to an unsatisfactory conclusion.
• I have been visiting Rosedale in the North York Moors for many years, normally an annual trip.   It’s a beautiful area, my family are from the area the other side of the moors and I go there to watch golden plover, curlew, tree pipits but not raptors.  Over the last ten years I’ve seen one merlin, no owls, no buzzards, no kites, no harriers.  After this year’s visit it will probably be my last for some time, fresh drainage ditches have been dug, traps clearly evident, unsightly grit trays litter the area, crows and magpies are agitated in cages put there to lure others – it is now a wildlife wasteland and for anyone with a love of wildlife it is very depressing.

 

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