Licensing the release of gamebirds into the Welsh countryside: why regulate, and why now?

Fersiwn Gymraeg ar gael yma

Natural Resources Wales (NRW) is seeking views on its proposals to regulate the release for shooting of Pheasants and Red-legged Partridges in Wales. This blog explains why we support the proposals and how you can help.

We have growing concerns about the environmental impact of large numbers of gamebirds being released into the countryside. Pheasants and Red-legged Partridges are reared in sheds each spring and moved into pens in woodlands or cropped land, from which they are released during the summer. The shooting season starts on 1 September for partridges and 1 October for Pheasants.

First, the science

The NRW review has been informed by a number of scientific reports, including one published by the RSPB Centre for Conservation Science.

This review found that habitat management, predator control and supplementary feeding linked to game estate management can benefit native wildlife on farmland and in woods. In landscapes that have been heavily modified by intensive agriculture, such management can be a lifeline.

However, when large numbers or high densities of gamebirds are released, it can be very damaging to the environment through:

• direct impacts, such as browsing of plants, predation of reptiles and invertebrates, competition for food resources eaten by native wildlife and soil enrichment.
• disease transmission to wildlife, like the highly pathogenic avian influenza (bird flu)
• changes to the balance of predators and prey of threatened species (gamebirds can be a supplementary food source for predators, such as foxes)
• shooting practices, including lead shot that pollutes the environment, is ingested by scavengers and can enter the food chain.
• illegal persecution of protected species, including birds of prey.
• rodent control practices that have a negative impact on native birds and mammals through the use of poisonous rodenticides.

Data on the scale and locations of gamebird releases is woefully inadequate. A report commissioned by NRW estimated that between 0.8 and 2.3 million gamebirds are released annually in Wales, at somewhere between 171 and 431 shoots. Around three-quarters of Welsh shoots release fewer than 3,000 birds annually, but some shoots release much greater numbers, and one released around 120,000 birds in a single summer.

Why regulate, and why now?

Two years on, and following extensive discussions with representatives of shooting, RSPB trustees assessed the lack of progress over decades in reducing the impact of released gamebirds on the environment. We want to see gamebird shooting contribute to nature recovery, in the same way as we would any land management, such as farming and forestry.

Relying on self-regulation, and given low compliance with even the limited existing rules, did not convince RSPB trustees that the industry is capable of positive change on any meaningful timescale. We welcome that the NRW review has drawn the same conclusion.

The RSPB’s concern is primarily with large-scale shoots releasing high densities of gamebirds. Smaller shoots releasing fewer birds are much less likely to be damaging. We also recognise the benefits that management by shoots can have for native wildlife. Nonetheless, the RSPB believes that further regulation and better enforcement of existing rules are essential to deliver the changes necessary in the face of a nature and climate crisis.

 

What is NRW proposing?

In a nutshell, the proposals would:

• Make it illegal to introduce Pheasants and Red-legged Partridges without permission.
• On some of the most important sites for wildlife (Sites of Special Scientific Interest), anyone wanting to release these gamebirds would require a licence. NRW would have to be satisfied that damage would not be caused by the gamebirds. That requirement would extend to 500 metres around each SSSI because gamebirds can wander a good distance from the release pen.
• Everywhere else in Wales, releases would operate under a ‘General Licence’. This would define the maximum numbers of birds released within an area. Anyone releasing gamebirds would have to meet the terms of that licence but not need to apply individually.

Visit the NRW website to take a closer look at the proposals.

What does RSPB Cymru think?

We support the proposals, which explain clearly why the current system cannot adequately protect nature. In places designated as important for nature (SSSIs), it’s absolutely right that human activities should not pose a threat to wildlife – whether that’s a built development, inappropriate tree planting, ploughing up a chalk grassland, or releasing large numbers of non-native species.

There is a great deal of habitat sensitive to damage that is not designated as SSSI. For example, 91% of Ancient Semi-natural Woodland is not protected. We don’t think that General Licences are fit-for-purpose and think that NRW should regulate releases more carefully. NRW has committed to reviewing this in five years and we will want to see them held to that.

There is broad agreement that data on the scale and location of Red-legged Partridge and Pheasant releases is, quite frankly, rubbish. We believe that unless licensees are required to report on how many birds are released and where, NRW will have no greater understanding in five years than they do now.

So, although the proposals are not as robust as we think they should be, we believe that they will go some way to reducing the environmental risks posed by unlimited releases of non-native gamebirds. Greater understanding of the gaps in knowledge should emerge over the next few years, which should inform how regulation works in the longer-term.

Read 'The impacts of non-native gamebird release in the UK: an updated evidence review' here 
 
Thank you for reading to the end. This is a complex topic that arouses strong opinions. We believe that the proposals from NRW are proportionate and based on sound evidence and urge you to support them.