Here we are, well into the fourth week of lock-down. The garden, what there is of it, is looking better than ever before, the shed has been creosoted in preparation for winter and all the kitchen knives are well honed. For those who know me these are good measures of just how bad things are. For those who don’t know me there is a bit of a biography towards the end of this, my first blog.
Last Friday I visited the Raptor Persecution Scotland (RPS) website. A site I visit frequently because, actually, it is a good source of information about raptor persecution, providing one does not lose sight of the prejudices that are so routinely pedalled. On this occasion there was a blog announcing that Wild Justice were looking to donate £5k to be used to “to support forensic analyses in cases relating to the illegal persecution of birds of prey”. Quite what is meant by illegal persecution will no doubt be explained at some point. Is it possible, from the perspective of the criminal law, to persecute legally?
Anyway, I must confess to being rather incensed about the crass way in which this initiative was being launched. Especially the suggestion that, at a time of national emergency other organisations should contribute to such a fund. Had it perhaps escaped the attention of Wild Justice that many potential donors are facing, at best, a very uncertain future unable to retain staff let alone find funds for such an initiative. I really wanted to make comment about this, but Wild Justice do not allow, as far as I could see, contributions to be made on their blogs. So, I resorted to creating a twitter account and posting comments on the RPS blog. Again, those who know me will know that my decision to use Twitter evidences just how high my feelings were running.
I think it is fair to say that my contributions to the conversation were not welcomed with open arms. Although credit is given for the fact that I was not blocked. Others were not quite so warm in their welcome. Nick Lyall of the Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group thought that one tweet was sufficient to block me from viewing his Twitter account.
But actually, a fair point was being made, should anonymous contributions to Twitter accounts and blogs, be blocked as a matter of routine. Looking at numerous comments on the RPS blog this does not appear to be a problem but it did make me think about whether I should be saying things that I was not prepared to put my name to. But that presented a real dilemma. I was Chair of Wildlife and Countryside Link’s wildlife crime and trade working group. A position that I was immensely proud of and honoured to have been elected to. Wild Justice are members of the same working group. That dilemma has now been resolved with my resignation.
There will, I am sure, still be some, for whom my identity is still a mystery. So, to be absolutely transparent. My name is Pete Charleston. My experience in matters of wildlife crime dates back to 1978 when I joined North Wales Police. My first successful wildlife crime investigation was in 1993, it involved egg collector’s intent on taking Roseate Tern eggs. In 2000 I was appointed as full-time wildlife crime officer for my force and was seconded to the Countryside Council for Wales (now Natural Resources Wales), the first Police Officer ever to be seconded to a conservation agency. After completing 8 years in that post and 30 years as a police officer I retired. Thereafter I was contracted to perform staff officer duties for 5 Chief Constables who were each the ACPO lead on wildlife crime. There was also a very enjoyable few years working as a wildlife crime coordinator for Derbyshire Police, as a contracted investigator for Natural England and other, one off, contracts for other police forces and organisations. In 2010 I was employed by the Bat Conservation Trust as their wildlife crime officer, another role I was proud to undertake. Just a few weeks ago I decided it was a good time to bring that chapter of my life to an end.
All in all, I like to think that I am qualified to talk about wildlife crime. I hope that during the past 40 or more years I have done so in an impartial manner. I was always reluctant to talk about my personal interests but I think that having started to Tweet and write a blog I should also be transparent in that area. I do shoot occasionally and beat regularly on a number of local shooting estates. I am also a game angler. Away from country sports I am a poor birder but I do volunteer at the local RSPB reserve and have previously attended Raptor camps run by Birdlife in Malta. Bat surveys are something I began to get involved in last year. Until recent times I was also undertaking voluntary duties for my local police force.
There we have it. I hope, in future to tweet about wildlife crime issues, offering congratulations, challenges and criticism where appropriate. Where I feel the need I will also blog, but I promise that most blogs will be a lot shorter than this one. It is a good feeling knowing that I can voice opinion without the need to have regard to an employer!
All views expressed are purely my own. They may not represent the views of those organisations I am connected to or have been connected with.
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