Shooting Times & Country Magazine
Country Diary
Far from being the problem, modern game management could well be the solution as we look to safeguard England’s important natural sites
It’s uplifting being out and about on home ground around the village or surrounding estates. Almost every other 4x4 driver raises a hand in the universal gesture of rural recognition. It’s vital to respect the unwritten rules of this interaction, most crucially to wave in response without fail, but almost as importantly to watch for the rolling down of the driver’s window. This is the signal that a socially distanced conversation is being requested — possibly to pass the time of day briefly or impart important local news.
The good farming and sporting burghers of Wessex are still mainly concerned by the likelihood of, forecast for or eventual lack of rain. However, coronavirus has been knocked off second spot in the conversation stakes by “those Wild Justice fellows”. Of course, I am expected to know precisely what is going to happen. That brings up the question of local Sites of Special Scientific Interest — or, in Wessex patois, ‘SSSSSEYES’ — and the eventual exultation for me to “look that up on the computer”.
Practical conservation
Now, for a sportsman and landowner driven by practical conservation, I spend an inordinate amount of time in front of a computer already. Much of my life is engaged in randomly prodding at the clunky, disjointed, poorly designed Government websites that are far too often the tools of farming and land management.
I’m quite likely to be logged into ARAMS, recording sheep movements and newly born lambs, or toggling mapping layers in MAGIC, searching for calciferous landscape features. Recently, I’ve wasted hours using the Natural England portal to tour nearby SSSI, Ramsar and National Nature Reserves.
It was possibly not the most productive use of my time, but it was instructive. Wild Justice supporters would be disappointed to discover that none of the site reports I’ve pored over make any mention of released gamebirds being considered a driver of substandard habitat. The only direct mention of gamebirds in my locale was a highly positive reference to grey partridges and some commentary on woodcock in well-managed woodlands.
Sadly, I can’t report that all of these legally protected sites in our green and pleasant land are in fine fettle. Many fall into the gloriously bureaucratic category of ‘condition unfavourable – recovering’.
A national league table shows the reasons why sites have been designated as being in unfavourable condition. Top of the list is water pollution, then overgrazing, followed by undergrazing, freshwater invasive species, and forestry and woodland management. Scroll to the bottom of the list and you will find that ‘game management — pheasant rearing’ was worthy of note on 0.28% of the sites that are not meeting targets. This represents an area of only 290 hectares across the whole of England.
So fieldsports aren’t the problem but with some courage from conservationists at Natural England, I think we could be a massive
“Sadly, I can’t report that all of these legally protected sites are in fine fettle”
part of the solution. Let’s review that list of recurring problems at these precious sites.
Water pollution heads the list and would be an ideal candidate for rejuvenated flight ponds and rewilded trout streams to help stem and slow the flow of agricultural and other pollutants into our watercourses.
Could shooting help with unmanaged woodlands? A shoot’s planned rotation of sky-lighting and ride-cutting has been scientifically proven by the GWCT to improve biodiversity considerably. The removal of freshwater invasive species, be they mink or crayfish, is an obvious role for a skilled gamekeeper. All of this could be achieved at zero cost to the tax payer.
Maybe Wild Justice’s actions will unwittingly result in a light being shone on the benefits of modern game management.
It always pays to be well informed.
You can research your area here: designatedsites.naturalengland.org.uk