Intensive training for part-time keepers

The increasingly important role of the gamekeeper in helping to maintain the richness of bird life in the countryside by providing food, the creation of wildlife habitats and protection from predators was recently acknowledged and highlighted in a detailed research report by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust called Singing Fields. 

To sustain these high standards and to keep up-to-date with the latest developments in game management, training is an essential element for most full-time professional keepers in order to keep abreast of current best practice.  However, for the amateur or part-time keeper, who needs to be as well trained as their professional colleagues, there is little training provision available for those keepering over smaller areas of land.

Mike Swan, an advisor with the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, is passionate about the need to provide adequate training for the many part-time gamekeepers that work smaller areas of our countryside.  He said, “Budgeting limited time and prioritising keepering activities to best effect is always difficult, but we recognise that it is just as important.  We have thus developed what has become the leading training course for part-time keepers.”

The Trust’s part-time keeper’s course, which will take place over the weekend of Friday 24 to Sunday 26 September at its Fordingbridge headquarters in Hampshire, is a not-to-be missed opportunity for those keen to ensure that their part-time keepering activity is managed as well as those working full-time.

Mike Swan explains, “We have been running this course for over 30 years and it has gone from strength to strength. Good training is a great confidence booster and participants on previous courses have found that it really helps them to prioritise and integrate their activities when time is limited. The programme covers a wide spectrum of topics such as choosing a workable feeding programme, making sure that predator control activities are properly maintained and ensuring that habitat management really gives a better environment for pheasants and partridges.” 

Training on this intensive weekend course is packed full of practical advice and tips on the latest game management techniques and keepering topics with a sprinkling of the Trust’s science included to give added interest.  Provided by the Trust’s expert advisors, the practical course material encompasses all the activities carried out by the modern keeper including deer management, game shoot economics and flight pond construction. Ample time is available for discussion and questions to maximise the benefits of the course. 

The three-day residential course is aimed at farmers who are running a part-time shoot or enthusiastic amateurs involved in small shoot syndicates.  It is also ideal for part-time keepers who wish to extend or improve their game management skills. 

To book a place please visit www.gwct.org.uk/parttimekeepers or to book by phone or for further information, please contact Lynda Ferguson on 01425 651013.

Notes to editors

The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust is an independent wildlife conservation charity which carries out scientific research into Britain’s game and wildlife. We advise farmers and landowners on improving wildlife habitats and we lobby for agricultural and conservation policies based on science. We employ 14 post-doctoral scientists and 50 other research staff with expertise in areas such as birds, insects, mammals, farming and statistics.  We undertake our own research as well as projects funded by contract and grant-aid from Government and private bodies.   The Trust is also responsible for a number of Government Biodiversity Action Plan species and is lead partner for grey partridge and joint lead partner for brown hare and black grouse.

For Information, contact
Morag Walker, Head of Media
Telephone: 01425-652381
Direct:  01425-651000
Mobile: 07736-124097