East Anglia is miles away from any grouse moors but has a strong Pheasant and partridge shooting tradition. It is also an essentially rural area with a few moderately sized urban areas such as Norwich, Ipswich, Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth.
The breakdown of signatures in support of banning driven grouse shooting across Norfolk and Suffolk constituencies is as follows:
| Signatures for banning driven grouse shooting | Signatures supporting grouse shooting | |
|---|---|---|
| Broadland | 105 | 43 |
| Great Yarmouth | 55 | 6 |
| Mid Norfolk | 122 | 47 |
| North Norfolk | 143 | 38 |
| North West Norfolk | 86 | 42 |
| Norwich North | 64 | 5 |
| Norwich South | 111 | 3 |
| South Norfolk | 127 | 32 |
| South West Norfolk | 90 | 39 |
| Bury St Edmunds | 93 | 42 |
| Central Suffolk and North Ipswich | 91 | 59 |
| Ipswich | 89 | 5 |
| South Suffolk | 88 | 73 |
| Suffolk Coastal | 135 | 67 |
| Waveney | 99 | 12 |
| West Suffolk | 68 | 61 |
| Total | 1566 | 574 |
That’s pretty convincing (although remember that the pro grouse-shooting e-petition has longer still to run whereas the ‘ban’ e-petition closes on Easter Monday, 2 April).
Norfolk resident, Mark Cocker, says, ‘The moral and environmental case against driven-grouse shooting is now unassailable. It is a matter of time before the politics catches up with these values. Gavin Gamble’s e-petition creates a fair wind for this to come to pass.’
To join Mark Cocker, please sign Gavin Gamble’s e-petition which calls for a ban on driven grouse shooting.
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Lucky enough to see a brown Hen Harrier on Stifkey marsh this evening – dramatic swoop after prey but missed – one of the glories of this marvellous coast, so well done Norfolk voting to save your wonderful wildlife.
As Roderick points out, although East Anglia has no grouse shooting it does have wintering Hen Harriers (my one and only HH sighting was in Suffolk – despite many holidays and work trips to the Highlands and even Mull!), so pleased to see a swell of support for the ban there.
Yup, we’ve got our heads screwed on round here. Getting a bid borderline in south and west Suffolk but then that’s a lot nearer that London, where most of the grousers seem to live, work and have their being.
I see my own constituency of South Suffolk has the highest number of signatures in favour of grouse shooting. Doesn’t surprise me with the amount of shooting round here.