Groups submit gamebird evidence

Wildfowlers are concerned their sport is under threat because of Natural England’s approach to dealing with consents.

Areas of particular concern are the Humber Estuary and Morecambe Bay, heartlands of the sport. The main issue is that consents covering these areas are not being renewed by Natural England. The consents allow for sustainable wildfowling on protected sites and are issued individually, which means that there are often a number of different consents for a particular area. The combination of these consents means that one cannot be granted without assessing other impacts.

A source has told Sporting Gun that there is concern that Natural England’s default position is to refuse consents because it cannot physically carry out all the assessments it is required to do and therefore cannot give the go-ahead to one particular club if it has not assessed the impact of the activities of another. This is of particular concern in the Humber area, the source told us, where the consents have been refused by Natural England at the last minute of an allowed four-month timespan. As a result, wildfowling on the estuary this year is under threat.

Ken Arkley, chairman of Hull and East Riding Wildfowlers’ Association, has said the refusal of the consents affects nine clubs and could effectively bring to an end decades of wildfowling activity on the estuary, meaning the Upper Humber Wildfowling Committee Permit Scheme, which has been in place since the Humber Wildfowl Refuge was set up by statutory instrument in 1955.

Mr Arkley and his associates are trying to secure some sort of interim local arrangement with Natural England so that shooting can continue from 1 September, while some of the wider consent issues are resolved.