Gamebird counts

The Allerton Project started in 1992 which served as a baseline year in which we did not change the management of the farm. 

In 1993, we introduced a game management system, based on previous research by the Game Conservancy Trust, and including habitat management, control of nest predators, and supplementary feeding in winter.  This system was designed to meet the year-round requirements of wild game birds.  No game birds were released. 

In 2001 we stopped the predator control component of this system in order to document the impact, not just on game, but on other wildlife as well.  Our monitoring programme since the start of the project enables us to observe changes in abundance from year to year.

Between 1993 and 2001, numbers of wild pheasants increased substantially. Predator control increased the proportion of nests that were successful; insect-rich habitats ensured that there was food for the chicks, and winter feeding kept birds well fed and on the farm through the autumn and winter.  Red-legged partridge numbers fluctuated more than those of pheasants but showed a similar trend.  For brown hares, there was a similar story.

The initial increase in game abundance enabled four or five shoots to be held each, harvesting mainly cock pheasants, but also partridges, hares and ducks.  Our shoot at Loddington was one of a number of small scale local shoots which play an important role in the rural community, providing employment and strengthening social cohesion.  Such issues are explored within our community heritage project.  Game from local shoots is traded locally through the same rural networks, an issue being investigated through our wild foods project.  

From 2002, the predator control component of the system was stopped, and habitat management and winter feeding continued, as did the monitoring.  Pheasants, red-legged partridges and hares all declined in the subsequent years.  There have consequently been no shoots at Loddington in recent years.  As the habitat remained the same, the most likely explanation for the changes in hare numbers is the implementation or cessation of predator control.  The explanation for changes in game bird numbers is similar, although in recent years, spring numbers of pheasants have been as high as autumn numbers, suggesting some immigration in response to habitat and/or winter feeding.  We reduced winter feeding in 2005/6 and stopped it in 2006/7 in order to document the influence of this widely adopted game management practice on game and non-game species.

We plan to rebuild the full game management system and restore shooting at Loddington when the current phase of the project without winter feeding is complete.

Graph 1: Pheasant counts.