A NATIONAL Park Authority wants a bigger commitment to tackling the scourge of raptor poaching.

North Yorkshire has an unenviable reputation when it comes to birds of prey persecution and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority has added a new objective in its draft Management Plan to try and combat the problem.

The objective commits the organisations that sign up to the Plan to work with landowners and land managers to achieve and maintain sustainable populations of raptors such as hen harrier and merlin by 2025.

The Authority’s chief executive, David Butterworth, said reaction to recent news that hen harriers had fledged in the National Park for the first time since 2007, while a red kite had been found shot dead near Bolton Abbey, showed there was a lot of work to be done.

He said: “Some people have reacted to the reports of a successful nesting attempt of hen harriers as if all the problems of persecution and expanding the breeding range have been resolved.

“Others have been so negative as to barely acknowledge what has happened as a ‘good thing’.

“That is disappointing and is probably reflective of the lack of trust between many involved in these issues.

“From our point of view, we won’t be getting into either of these ‘trenches’ throwing barbs at each other.

“Our only concern is to assist in the efforts to stop criminal persecution and to see more of these magnificent birds in the National Park. “Anything that gets in the way of that objective is an indulgence.”

Mr Butterworth said the recent success in hen harrier nesting in Cumbria was only made possible thanks to joint working by the landowner, shooting interests and Natural England.

He added: “From a personal perspective, I’d like to see an increasing hen harrier population include successful breeding pairs in the Yorkshire part of the National Park.

“I’d also like to hear a sound condemnation of any criminal persecutions should they continue to take place.

“The recent shooting of the red kite, found at Bolton Abbey, shows we have a long way to go.”

Mr Butterworth spoke on the matter at the Northern England Raptor Forum held recently in Grassington.