Shooting in the crosshairs: Our letter to the Telegraph

Dear Sir

The proposal in the government’s recently published Land Use Framework to license gamebird management suggests a worrying lack of understanding of the fundamental connection between shooting and conservation in some of our most well-loved landscapes: Labour’s shooting crackdown threatens to hollow out the countryside.

For instance, the moorland near Helmsley is one of the last places in the UK where you will find stable breeding populations of many of our most endangered waders like curlew, golden plover and oystercatcher. Our research has identified grouse moors with four times more breeding curlew than unmanaged ground. That’s a direct result of the work carried out by gamekeepers maintaining habitats and managing predators – all at no cost to the taxpayer.

Without shooting it’s very hard to see how that vital work would be carried out. Who would do it, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and who would pay for it? For the uninitiated it seems counterintuitive, but it’s clear that if you remove shooting from these landscapes, you will also remove some of our most iconic wild species, probably forever.

Part of the problem is that policymakers and politicians tend to write plans for the countryside from behind a desk in an urban setting. That’s why it’s so important that the GWCT will be hosting officials for regular training at our demonstration farm in Leicestershire over the next four years.

But more can be done. We’ve seen a small number of ministers and officials visit the uplands in recent years, and I’m sure they’ve always been surprised to see how well shooting and conservation work together and have such a positive impact – perhaps challenging some of their preconceptions. GWCT is well placed to be able to facilitate more opportunities for policymakers and politicians to experience great examples of lowland and upland shooting driving biodiversity recovery. If you want to be sure of evidence-led policy, it’s a case of “come and see for yourselves”.

Yours faithfully,

Nick von Westenholz
Chief Executive Officer
Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust

Comments

Shooting

at 16:28 on 14/04/2026 by Richard Phillips

My 25 acres is a lifeline for small birds unfortunately it’s all for predators too as most local farmers don’t have any hedges or places for wildlife to nest. Most of the wildlife organisations including packham frown on shooting. I’ve been close to nature most of my life and have watched the changes in countryside and can see that if the predators are not kept under control that’s all that will be left.

Shooting in the crosshairs: Our letter to the Telegraph

at 15:21 on 14/04/2026 by Phil

It's interesting to read your statement: 'Without shooting it’s very hard to see how that vital work would be carried out'. You've clearly overlooked many of our nature rich landscapes that are not managed for shooting. What about the incredible work of the conservation charities or the large tracts of land being rewilded - many of which were previously shooting estates. Surveys across all taxa clearly demonstrate that 'letting nature do its thing' results in a much richer biodiversity than shooting estates where pheasants band partridge dominate - let alone highly managed grouse moors where there may be curlew but little else. It would be refreshing to see GWCT acknowledge that society now demands (and is prepared to pay for it through e.g. planning gain, stewardship schemes etc.) more from our environment than the unnatural tracts of land managed for a pursuit that is in decline and increasingly sounds naive in its attempts to justify itself.

Education

at 15:04 on 14/04/2026 by Nick vZ

Taking politicians to see for themselves is possibly a good start but.... It will not tip the balance. which has been caused by about 98% of the people in the UK fromall walks of life becoming ever more distanced from the countyside and rural matters. I hesitate to use the word Nature because it has become such an abused short hand term which no one can define. (My definition is "The expression of the laws of Physics and Chemistry" Nothing else. The average MP of any party will be 9 or 10 GENERATIONS away from any sort of rural conection. They have forgotten that to die you have to be alive first. That death is a normal and natural part of being alive. That proper management of the countryside is essential. They don't understand the basic maths that a single predator, of any sort, needs at least 300 meals a year. ((I'm aware that this is possibly an underestimate as it means going hungry for 65days or 1½days a week) that means 10 need 3000 meals and 100 predtors need 30,000. Those numbers are beyond the comprehension of that same 98%. So it is little wonder that our politicos are so out of touch with the realities of the countrside.

Oystercatcher

at 13:35 on 14/04/2026 by George Duguid

Hi just read your article about endangered birds i would agree with most of your comments but oystercatchers are certainly not endangered if anything three numbers are well up they are nesting on many roofs in urban locations even within major town Regards George Duguid GD Pest Control Ltd

Labour And Its War On The Countryside

at 13:07 on 14/04/2026 by Michael OReilly

Great letter but like the 2 labour goverment inquries into hunting with hounds (the 1951 Scott Henderson Report and Burns Report 2002 also commissioned by Tony Blairs Labour Govt both of which did not find hunting cruel and did not reccomend a ban it fell on deaf ears of labour mps who persue their left wing socialist political agenda against rural england Labours current ban on trail hunting consultation and this latest left wing attack on shooting is Labours SMOKESCREEN dressed up as Animal Welfare.

The benefits of managed moorland.

at 12:41 on 14/04/2026 by Tony Johnstone

Whilst I fully appreciate the effort that goes into publicising the many benefits to ground nesting birds on properly managed moorland, I only see articles of this nature being directed at the shooting community. Preaching to the already converted carries much less of an impact than preaching to the wider general public, who should be the main target group that should be informed about the great work accomplished by Gamekeepers, at absolutely no cost to the taxpayers.

Invasive townies

at 12:29 on 14/04/2026 by Nick Wilkinson

Townies buy second homes in the country and then try to inflict their urban values us. A classic example of this was a couple who moved to a hamlet in the North Yorkshire dales and asked the council to provide a street light and to arrange to have the road swept twice a day after the cowes passed their property to be milked. They didn’t last long before the cottage was back on the market.

SHOOTING

at 11:56 on 14/04/2026 by Alistair William Jackson Kerr

This is well-understood by serious naturalists. Biodiversity is the name of the game, and we all agree that biodiversity is a Good Thing. Managed shooting preserves and enhances biodiversity in a way that 'rewilding' cannot. Curlews and Golden Plovers apart, it would be tragic if iconic gamebird species, such as the Pheasant, Partridge (both kinds) and wildfowl were to vanish or be seriously reduced. The countryside would be poorer without them.

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