Today I’ll be highlighting several pieces of evidence from the Peak District – an area which is the fulcrum for change on this issue. The Sheffield Bird Study Group would be expected to know a thing or two about the Peak District National Park. Here are some extracts from their written evidence:
- The management of moorlands for the purpose of grouse shooting results in the illegal persecution and killing of birds of prey, including nationally rare and scarce species protected by the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act.
- The management of moorlands to prioritise growth of heather for the purpose of grouse shooting results in the loss of biodiversity, including scarce breeding wading birds, in delicate local ecosystems.
- In the Peak District adjacent to Sheffield, grouse shooting has resulted in an impoverished environment, in which populations of various species of iconic birds are seriously depleted, adversely affecting quality of life indicators for the region’s residents.
- Owners of extensive tracts of upland moors receive very substantial public subsidies to manage land in ways that show no accountability to the public interest of those who fund such payments through taxation.
- Driven grouse shooting be discontinued as a practice that results in land management that is detrimental to the environment and to the avifauna of Britain’s uplands.
You could write to your MP about the debate on driven grouse shooting today (see here).
[registration_form]