WILDLIFE crime officers and experts from across the country took part in a bird of prey workshop at North Yorkshire Police headquarters in Northallerton in an effort to tackle raptor persecution.

Around 100 took part in the seminar organised by Bedfordshire Police Superintendent and Chairman of the National Raptor Persecution Delivery Group, Nick Lyall. It brought together wildlife crime officers, representatives from the RSPB, Natural England, RSPCA, national parks.

North Yorkshire’s Deputy Chief Constable, Phil Cain, said: “It was very positive to see so many people coming together to discuss how best we can protect our national birds of prey.

“This training day follows the national roll out of our Operation Owl initiative led by Nick Lyall and which further underlines the importance of partnership working and sharing best practice in tackling wildlife crime.”

Operation Owl aims to raise awareness of raptor persecution, encouraging people to be vigilant and to report any signs of possible criminal activity, and also to increase police surveillance at known hot-spots.

Despite being home to a diverse population of birds of prey, including buzzards, kestrels, owls, increasingly red kites and rarely, hen harriers, North Yorkshire suffers the highest level of raptor persecution in the country.

To find out more about Operation Owl, visit: northyorkshire.police.uk/op-owl or: operationowl.com