Shooting Times & Country Magazine
Woodcock season could be best in more than a decade
A French hunting website has predicted a good year for the little waders, while in the UK, Defra says it is considering shortening their open season
French hunters are predicting one of the best woodcock seasons in many years and this should mean good news for us in the UK too.
In 2010, French hunting website lachassedelabecasse desbois.com began a programme of tracking woodcock and monitoring conditions in their breeding grounds to predict the numbers of migrants that would reach France. Over the past 12 years, this methodology has been carefully refined using multiple tagged woodcock and a network of correspondents in the major woodcock breeding countries.
Last week, the site’s owners published their prediction for 2022. They reported generally good breeding conditions in Russia and the Baltic states, where the majority of English wintering woodcock breed, and normal to good conditions in Fennoscandia, where Scottish and Irish birds breed.
Crucially, these areas did not experience any severe weather events during the critical breeding period, which extends from mid May to mid July. The second crucial period runs from mid July to the end of August, when chicks are young.
During this period, the breeding country monitors “did not notice any climatic conditions that could have hindered the good growth of the young; just a slight lack of rain and soil moisture”.
Franck Ricaud and Phillippe Vignac, the hunters who run the website, noted that “this observation is valid for all the major breeding countries”.
Mr Ricaud and Mr Vignac also noted that the droughts that hit much of western and southern Europe did not affect the birds’ breeding territories, a situation which would have been “catastrophic”. The summer’s droughts are, however, expected to affect the distribution of birds once they arrive on their wintering grounds, with a much less even distribution than would normally be expected as birds gather in areas with wetter soil.
Meanwhile, in the UK,
Defra has said it will review the sustainability of woodcock shooting. In a letter, former Defra minister George Eustice said that the current list of quarry species would be reviewed and that shortening of the woodcock season would be one of the measures considered.
Matt Cross
“This observation is valid for all the major breeding countries”
The first significant outbreak of bird flu in pheasants of the 2022 season has been recorded in Norfolk. Data published by the Animal & Plant Health Agency confirmed six positive cases in the county.
Because released pheasants are considered to be wild birds, their discovery does not trigger the restrictions that would be put in place in the event of an infected poultry flock.
However, Norfolk, Suffolk and parts of Essex are now included in a regional Avian Influenza Prevention Zone due to a series of cases at poultry premises. Devon, Cornwall, the Isles of Scilly and part of Somerset were already in a prevention zone following earlier outbreaks.
Shooting is not prohibited in an Avian Influenza Prevention Zone. However, releasing of birds is not allowed and shoots that are unsure of how the regulations will affect them are advised to contact their shooting or gamekeeping organisation for guidance.
Norfolk-based birdwatcher Ian Coarse told Shooting Times: “The effects of bird flu have been plain to see this summer with the numbers of dead birds washing up on beaches. It is a very worrying situation and one we will all be keeping a close eye on.”