Shooting at Holkham

Holkham is believed to be where driven shooting was first practised, and game books recording each day’s ‘sport’ have been kept since 1793. In 1905, a record bag of 1,671 grey partridges ( above) were shot in one day on the estate. Jake explains that, these days, the grey partridge population is rather more carefully managed,

and birds are only shot if there is calculated to be a ‘shootable surplus’, with enough to ensure a sustainable population the following season.

Impressively, in 2019, there were 591 pairs of grey partridges on the estate managed for shooting by Holkham, plus over 200 pairs on parts of the estate rented to other shoots, and more birds on the national nature reserve.

According to Jake, Holkham’s shoot is not a significant revenuegenerating exercise and is mostly given over to ‘family days’, where relatives and trustees of the estate receive a day’s shooting.