Dear Sir,
The High Court Judge’s decision to overturn NE’s ruling around the release of gamebirds on SPAs, after a legal challenge by BASC, is good news for the wildlife they are intended to protect.
Habitat management and predator control carried out by gamekeepers on these sites, at no cost to the taxpayer, is a lifeline for threatened species such as stone curlew, lapwing and skylark. The unintended consequences of NE’s relentless tightening of conditions are to put land managers out of work and protected species at much greater risk of local extinction.
NE’s interpretations of the guidance on releasing were described as ‘irrational’ by the judge. The same could be applied to its persistent restrictions of the Licence relating to releasing on SPAs, justified by the risk of gamebirds spreading Avian flu, when there is no evidence of gamebirds transmitting the disease to wild birds and the likelihood of an outbreak is currently at the lowest level.
The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust looks forward to a new approach by government where we can provide the science on which to base a more rational and cooperative approach to wildlife management in future.
Yours faithfully,
Nick von Westenholz
Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust CEO