The benefits to biodiversity of gamebird releasing
The Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust has published a new report titled ‘Game for Nature: Why released gamebird management is a lifeline for farmland biodiversity’, based on decades of scientific research on pheasant releasing. In light of Defra’s recent Call for Evidence, it demonstrates the huge private investment in nature recovery that gamebird management represents.
READ THE REPORT
The document explains, with reference to peer-reviewed science carried out by the Trust over 25 years, the many ways in which farmland managed for gamebirds has created space for nature. Most significantly, management associated with released game carried out by gamekeepers at the GWCT’s Allerton Project demonstration farm has bucked the national trend by more than doubling the number of breeding songbirds.
Defra Call for Evidence
The GWCT will be submitting an independent, thorough and very detailed response to Defra, which will include a comprehensive list of peer-reviewed scientific evidence, research reports and papers. However, there is a real need for shoots, shoot owners, shoot managers and gamekeepers to respond to this Call for Evidence to provide data and evidence that the GWCT does not hold. You can find help with this below.
The Call for Evidence is only the beginning
We will run new analysis on our long-term data, fill knowledge gaps, and turn our independent science into clear briefings for policymakers throughout the longer policy process. With your help we can gather and publish evidence, challenge inaccurate claims and keep sound science at the heart of the decisions ahead. Your support has never been more important.