Lead ammunition was part of the Wild Justice legal challenge to DEFRA but DEFRA (and Natural England) tended to ignore it. I can see why, it’s a very difficult issue for them politically though very clear biologically. Just as readers of this blog think that Waitrose should deal with the issue of lead in the food they sell, I imagine that quite a lot of people believe that DEFRA should deal with the issue of lead impacts on Natura 2000 sites.
Madden and Sage were supposed to address lead aspects but their exhaustive treatment was limited to a brief and inadequate mention.
Funny how nobody wants to talk about lead. Is it because there is no science on the subject? Hardly! There is the report of the Lead Ammunition Group from 2015 which told government they should phase out lead (and the awful Liz Truss ignored it and lied about the reasons). If you ask DEFRA what they are doing about lead ammunition they are likely to say that they are still thinking about it!
Well, when they consult on their proposals to ensure that gamebird releases do not prejudice the status of sites of nature conservation importance we can all say ‘What about lead?’ – that is a proven poison, likely to affect the conservation interest of sites of conservation importance and you should deal with that too‘.
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