Governments in Britain are to consult on shooting seasons for Woodcock, Snipe, Golden Plover, White-fronted Geese, Goldeneye, Pintail and Pochard (with different packages of proposals for each of Scotland, Wales and England) but it is proposed that Pochard should be removed from Schedule 2.1 across Britain. Consultation – click here.
These proposals emanate from correspondence between Wild Justice and Defra which resulted in the Secretary of State, George Eustice MP, proposing a review of schedules on his last day in the job – click here. Thank you George!
Wild Justice organised a Westminster parliament petition on the subject of Woodcock shooting asking for the season to be curtailed by two months – click here – which passed 107,000 signatures and was debated (quite well actually) on 27 February 2023 – click here. These things take time, they take too long; this one took the removal of a Tory government and then some more time and the changes aren’t quite secure yet.
But the ripple we threw into the pond resulted in further review of other species and some welcome other proposed changes. There is also proposal for Woodpigeon to become shootable for fun as well as to protect crops – I’ll have to think about that.
In fact I’ll think about all of it and decide how I will respond to the consultation which closes in two months. I’ll let you know.
PS I cannot resist pointing you to a Wild Justice blog where someone called Eustace George in FREDA writes to the, then, boss of the GWCT taking the piss out of her. It still makes me smile – click here.
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These proposed changes make eminent sense if you are truly a shooter with an environmental conscience and broadly follow as Mark has already stated petitions and advice to DEFRA. Given this you might expect BASC who claim to be conservationists as well as shooters to broadly agree, it does even invoke their principles of sustainable shooting with conservation. However you would be entirely wrong, despite there being plenty of good science to support these changes, not only are they objecting and encouraging their membership to say so in the consultation ( so it behoves us to give a firm opposite view IMO) but they want the following species added to the schedules of what can be shot: brent goose, carrion crow, cormorant, Egyptian goose, goosander, great black-backed gull, herring gull, jack snipe, jackdaw, jay, lesser black-backed gull, magpie, mandarin duck, monk parakeet, raven, ring-necked parakeet, ruddy duck, stock dove. Really few of these are quarry species to eat but many, ( Raven, Goosander, Cormorant, Gulls, Jackdaw and Jay ) are seen by the hunting shooting and fishing brigade as “pests” or a problem, some can be controlled under the general licences. These have however been recently reviewed and tightened and this is a flagrant attempt to turn that clock back. Some like Herring Gull are declining others data shows are not a problem but it seems prejudice still rules the countryside lobby and I for one think this is outrageous, given the general licences and the fact that where damage is PROVED licences to control some of the others may be sought. The only exception for me are the non natives but do I trust the average shooter to follow the law. A VERY BLUNT NO, they have constantly fallen short but still claim self regulation works despite all the evidence to the contrary. Please fill in the consultation, WJ provide a useful starting point.