the potential for the removal of others. A slippery
slope, in fact, that some would be more than
happy to push all shooters down.
In reality, the development of the airgun over
the past few decades has been as dramatic as it
has been continuous. During the 16 years I spent
at the job, there was a new rifle or pistol, or at the
very least a new variation of an existing model, to
unveil to its eager readers every single month – so
that would have been close to 200. A branch of
shooting sports with that much dynamism and
creativity can only be beneficial.
Having fought off attempts to stifle air power,
the next battle a year or two later was against
another general licence – this time covering the
exemption from full protection for the magpie.
Yes folks, because our continental cousins had
brought in just such a ban – kicking off in Holland
if I recall correctly – it was thought that giving the
stalwart, honest and upright magpie a “closed
season: protection throughout the breeding
season in line with all other species within the
W&CA 1988,” would benefit nature as a whole.
The case for the defence was, you might have
said, black and white.
Then someone with perhaps a greater grasp of
nature’s harsh reality than others spotted the fatal
flaw in the pro-maggot argument. All the other
birds, predominantly songbirds, whose eggs and
hatchlings formed the major diet of Pica pica in
the spring, would become vulnerable at exactly
the same time as they were most in need of
protection. It’s a strange fact that such aspects
- so obvious to anyone with direct experience –
are lost on the ‘experts’, despite their degrees in
environmental science.
And touching briefly on the current general
licence situation, how puzzling is it that someone
such as Chris Packham, wildlife supporter
extraordinaire, has never watched a pair of
magpies working a hedge and not just gobbling
up eggs and hatchlings but ripping the nests to
shreds as well, with all the destructive delight of
any gang of vandals. I know, he’s bound to say
that this is nature, red in tooth and claw, let it
happen, but others might see the benefit of
limiting the numbers of such voracious avian
thugs since, in another paradox, man is one of
their few controlling factors – though in another
twist, grey squirrels do their bit. As for other avian
predators redressing the balance, magpies don’t
build lids on their nests to win design awards.
Another more general point is that mainland
Europe is always held up as a shining beacon
of well-organised and certified hope when it
comes to shooting, as if by comparison we in
the UK are simply blood-crazed killers, able to
indulge our lusts without let or hindrance. In
fact, with rare high-profile exceptions, not only do
we rigidly adhere to the laws governing protected
status and closed seasons, we are restricted by
some of the world’s toughest gun laws, with
certain constabularies only too happy to catch
out the occasional lapsed or overlooked
certificate renewal.
Whatever conditions apply, these are accepted
as an integral part of responsible shooting, along
with which there’s an ingrained sense of
sportsmanship that runs throughout our shooting
sports – it’s the same sense of fair play that our
continental friends so easily and readily scoff at,
but it has helped to create an enviable level of
diversity in a more varied environment than manycountries with 10 or 20 times our land mass. And
while the fact that some Germans have to take
written shooting tests and exams is seen as a
virtue signal par excellence – and there are
undoubted moral and safety benefits, together
with an enhanced level of commitment – all those
migratory birds, shot, netted and cooked in their
tens of thousands along the Mediterranean coast
don’t get mentioned, except in the guise of
tradition with EU Heritage touted in its defence!
And, to be fair, Chris Packham has done his bit
in trying to ban the practice. Here in the UK, of
course, they are fully protected under the good
old W&CA and should you doubt the benefit, try
getting up early to appreciate the depth, variety
and volume of the dawn chorus and then hop on
a ferry and try your luck on the continent.
Going the other way, coincidentally, you might
meet droves of German, French, Dutch, Belgian,
Italian and many other sportspersons flocking to
these shores from August to January to enjoy
some of the finest game shooting in the world. All
subject to valid gun licences, of course. KEEPER’S COUNTRY
PICTURE:EDDIE JONESPICTURE:DAVID KJAER‘Some [shooters] saw
an airgun simply
as either a poacher’s
tool or an ineffective toy,
or, paradoxically,
as both’
There were many people who wanted to ban shooting
pigeons with an airgun in the 1990sUnlike in the UK, there is a closed season for
shooting magpie in many nations in mainland Europe