Did you see the Woodcock on Winterwatch last night? Didn’t you just want to shoot them? No? How strange.
If you did shoot them then you wouldn’t have to tell anyone and we wouldn’t have any record of your behaviour. We wouldn’t know if you shot more this year than last year, for example.
Woodcock are declining in numbers. My bet would be that it’s not much to do with shooting pressure but I wouldn’t bet the house on it – not even your house!
So I can see why Chris Packham is asking for a moratorium on the (unregulated) shooting of these weird and wonderful birds so that more research can be done. If I were a shooting industry that dumps bags of dead Pheasants in hedgerows, burns moorlands against the code of practice, defended the use of lead ammunition against all the evidence for impacts on people and wildlife, is responsible for wildlife crime which makes our upland National Parks devoid of raptors, damages ecosystem service for the rest of us, acts in an incredibly ungracious way to many non-shooters and gets millions of pounds from the taxpayer through CAP subsidies then I might just decide that we ought to give some ground on Woodcock, Snipe and Golden Plover shooting. But they won’t, it seems.
But to be fair, one of the most interesting things I have learned about birds in years was seeing where this satellite-tagged Woodcock went – courtesy of the GWCT. Good job none of their members shot it otherwise we wouldn’t have learned this.
One of the more interesting things I’ve heard about shooting recently is the large number of ringed Woodcock which are not reported from shoots. Anything carrying a UK ring might be a British-bred bird (although it probably wouldn’t be).
Watch Winterwatch and sign Chris’s petition.
I believe that a million woodcock are shot in France each year……and perhaps that’s where many of our UK bred birds spend the winter?
That sounds like an awful lot to me! Surely it must be having some impact?
Nick
The shooting of birds that are in serious decline and under pressure is definitely a problem. Healthy populations can withstand quite high levels of predation i.e. which includes shooting. However, as a species goes into decline predation starts to have a bigger effect proportionally on this species’ population.
In other words, what I’m saying is that shooting probably wasn’t the initial cause of the declines in Woodcock, Snipe and Golden Plover, but the free for all shooting of a species in decline is likely to further add to this decline. Personally I think it speaks volumes about shooters that they still want to shoot these birds. If they were the real conservationists they want us to believe they are, at the very least they’d have self-regulated and imposed a moratorium on shooting species like this.
This is the basis of my disgust at the shooting industry. From the 1970s on the shooting industry led a big charm offensive wanting us the public to believe that they’d reformed from the bad old days. Eventually they changed the names of their organizations, inserting “conservation” into their names to make us believe everything had changed. However, the continued shooting of these waders in decline, their insistence on still using lead shot and the widespread illegal killing of protected birds of prey by shooting interests says the complete opposite. If shooters don’t want to be seen like this it’s about time they started acting like conservationists, instead of just calling themselves conservationists.
You can add to that list, blocking every idea which could reduce illegal persecution of raptors e.g. increased powers of SSPCA, stricter penalties, video surveillance, vicarious liability, diversionary feeding….have you got all day and backing every idea which would do the reverse e.g. brood meddling, lowland introductions, attacking Chris Packham etc. etc.
Then openly admit as much in the Scottish and Westminster Parliament.
Concern-trolls the lot of them.
SteB1 this was exactly the situation with Black grouse in Wales I’ve written about previously here – no one suggested shooting was the principle cause of the decline – but everyone – most notably the shooting community – recognised that the population couldn’t sustain any further losses. All credit to shooting in Wales – and against all the odds Black Grouse are still there. It would be a great step if the responsible people in shooting could do the same again for declining Woodcock.
The estate where i work, and at least one neighbouring syndicate have stopped shooting woodcock.
I can’t remember if the species has featured on Springwatch, it would be nice to see a nest under observation.
Several nitwit shooters have trolled the Winterwatch FB page over the last 24 hours, with claims like this twaddle…
“Woodcock numbers have been steady for years. Why don’t they ask the people who are qualified to answer, like the woodcock network who regularly catch and release woodcock and have accurate records going by decades. They don’t want these experts because what they are stating is a lie”
They have, of course, failed to respond when the G”W”CT’s own data have been put in front of them!
One more chestnut (not directly mentioning Woodcock, but no less hilarious) from a woman who boasts a profile photo shwing her astride a hunter (horse that is!).
“I will no longer watch this programme whilst you have a Mr Packham present it. He is setting a political agenda he is against most country folk and does not in any way represent the Countryside nor does this programme. You regularly misinform the viewers and do not show the true Countryside and the people that love and look after it. Hunting and shooting are hugely important to the Countryside and its ongoing ability to thrive yet you portray this as a bad thing. You do not educate at all but instead pretend all wildlife is fluffy and lovely. If I had the choice I would not be wasting my money on paying for the BBC it’s left wing it’s biased and speaks many untruths.”
Teehee. 🙂
The same issue with shooting turtle doves in Malta, many hunters are stating that the main loss comes from agricultural change so shooting a few thousand TDs on Malta doesn’t make any difference!
Trapit, it is such a pity that the people doing the right thing always keep quiet about it, whilst the people doing the wrong thing make more and more noise and try to bully everyone around them. Please thank your employers on my behalf !
Coop, good comment ! Worth remembering, perhaps, that the Springwatch coverage of the Sparrowhawk pair at Minsmere was probably one of the starkest pieces of broadcasting against the ‘fluffy bunny’ version of nature – after all, they even killed one of the Minsmere Centre’s breeding swallows. And then there was the clip where one after another flegdlings were predated as they stuck their heads out of the nest hole for the first time. This is the sort of ‘nature red in tooth and claw’ that broadcasting often shies away from – especially when it is as close to home as Minsmere. It was a superb biology lesson – most notably for the many people who refuse to understand the relationship of a species like Sparrowhawk with the rest of the natural world.
Indeed, Roderick.
Although many choose not to “feed the trolls”, I think it’s important that we challenge them at every opportunity. In my opinion, they’re no better than book burners. It’s evident that they despise the fact that “Seasonwatch” has raised so much awareness among the wider public regarding their natural heritage. When I was a kid (in my mid 50s now), the tweedies were free to spout their garbage, as a flat hat and barbour was seen by many as some kind of mythical badge of authority. Thankfully, those days are are long gone, and anyone with a grain of intelligence can see right through their pathetic charade.
And finally, Esther… Mr David Parks from “The Countryside” posted this little gem this evening….
Packham! Does the BBC ever consider or even take on board comments made against him? He’s digging his clueless hole bigger by the day and for some bizarre reason you seem to ignore his critics and keep him on his pedestal! would you consider a talk in with say Sir David Bellamy & maybe Robin Page? Chris seems protected himself….. let’s see him in with the pro’s???
Mr Leslie,I think there are increasing numbers of shoots that spare Woodcock.
My gripe has always been people who treat them merely as targets,without taking the trouble to learn something of their ways.
I have spoken with lifelong shooters ,who had no idea the birds they where shooting originated from Scandinavia or Russia, and heard surprise expressed that they only lay four eggs unlike most other game birds.
I have no objection to shooting a woodcock (later in the season), if you take it home to eat. I do not like to see them going off to the game dealers with the Pheasants to fetch a few quid.
Incidentally, one of my best memories of Woodcock, whilst doing The BTO counts some years ago was of seeing one alight, briefly, on top of a stag – headed oak.
Mind you, certain people may find that hard to believe, after all what does a keeper know, it was probably a Mistle Thrush.