In reply to UKC/UKH Articles:
We (the walking and climbing community) are probably in the best place to take the lead in facing these crimes head on
And here's why
Many conservation bodies wear several hats. They are directly protecting wildlife on their own reserves, but they are also desperately trying to engage in the wider countryside, through landscape scale initiatives, habitat based programmes and collaborative projects with lots of other bodies. The upshot of this that they are, for the best possible reasons, trying to engage with (butter up? ingratiate with? appease?) the big landowners. In many ways, this is brilliant - you can achieve much much, more on a catchment scale than you can piddling around on the bits you own, even if you are a big landowner like the RSPB - the downside of that is that you have to bite your tongue, take the long view, turn a blind eye etc. If you get too confrontational, the landowners walk away.
Individual climbers and walkers don't. We don't have to push things up the chain of command, find out what our policy and PR team think the right tone is, We can make a noise - I'm not talking about the BMC here, they are as hamstrung with access negotiations as the rest - but if we are seeing things we don't like, we can write to the media, write to our MPs and councillors (letters from constituents can really get their attention the way petitions don't always), and maybe most importantly we SEE stuff
Climbers and walkers are out on this land the way that few other people are - why was there so much opposition to CROW access? We see neglected livestock, we see unapproved developments, and we see wildlife crime. But often we do bugger all. Maybe we don't realise what we are seeing, or maybe we don't want to get involved, but we have the potential to make a real difference. I've learned that keepers and land managers keep a surprisingly close eye on what the goretex hoards are up to. Dog off a lead? Scouts straying from the path? Down they swoop. It's probably long overdue that we take a similarly jaundiced eye. That rustic abroad in the landscape might look at one with the countryside, but wait - what's he up to? Illegal traps? Poisoned bait? If you are in a position to check, then do so. Be suspicious
I don't mean in your face confrontation, but simply take a closer look, If you don't like what you see - report it to the police. Call others as well if you like (RSPB, NT etc) but first and foremost treat it like you would if you thought you saw your neighbour being broken into - a potential crime in progress. The only way the police might take action is if a pattern of suspicious behaviour builds up. And follow it up - did they take any further action? if not, why not?
This is first and foremost OUR wildlife heritage. Landowners should be able to make a living from the land, but not at the expense of our habitats, or our harriers. We should be making donations to Mend our Mountains, but we should also be Guardians of our Mountains, and just by being out there, Seeing, and if neccessary acting on what we see, we can and WILL make a real difference to the future of our wildlife.
Sorry. Deep breath and a cup of tea..