Blogs

Defra have published their long awaited General Licence for gamebird releasing on European Protected Sites. Releasing pheasants and red-legged partridges in the protected sites and within a 500m buffer around them will be licensed for an interim period of four years whilst Defra and NE undertake work to assess impacts of gamebird management on individual sites.

Roger Draycott explains why it is important that guns become 'conscientious consumers' and find out what the shoot they are considering buying a day at is doing for wildlife.

The public consultation Interim Gamebird Release Licence in England - Defra - Citizen Space on proposals for an interim licensing regime for gamebird releasing and management on European Protected Sites closes on 15th March.

Wild Justice, the campaigning company led by Chris Packham, is now in such a muddle it has asked the GWCT for help.

Court papers have revealed that had the Wild Justice legal action to ban gamebird releasing near protected sites reached a courtroom - it would have failed.

Over the next few weeks Defra will be consulting with stakeholders about their plans for licensing gamebird releasing on or near protected sites in 2021. 

Last week the campaign group Wild Justice had to withdraw its legal action in relation to gamebird releases because Defra had found a legal solution to their concerns. However, Wild Justice then decided to describe this as a “victory” and, luckily for them, journalists at the Guardian, Telegraph, Times and the Mail appear not to have checked what Defra had actually said here.

It would appear the legal team at Defra are the real winners – they have avoided costly legal action and significant disruption to those providing the habitat that game management delivers.

GWCT is pleased to have helped provide scientific evidence to inform this issue, which shows that any negative impacts from game bird releasing are very localised to the release site, with positive impacts on habitats and other wildlife at both the local and landscape scale.