Shooting Times & Country – 17 July 2019

10 • SHOOTING TIMES & COUNTRY MAGAZINE

LETTERS

C. WARREN / A. HOOK

Whykeepered land is better than nature

I recentlyreadsomewhere

thatapproximatelyoneper

centoftheUKlandmassis

coveredbynaturereserves,

whichpromptedmetodoan

internetsearchtotrytofind

outwhattheother 99 percent

wasusedfor.Thefigures

I endedupwithturnedout

tobeveryinteresting.

Sevenpercentmakesup

naturereserves;urbanisation,

whichincludestowns,roads,

carparksandhousing,was

a surprising6.8percent;

woodland,whichapparently

is atitshighestlevelsince

1924 whenrecordsbegun,

12.7percent;andfarmingand

horticulture, 72 percent.

I wasunabletofindout

whatpercentageoffarmshave

shootingonthem,butI think

it wouldbefairtosaythaton

mostfarmsandwoodssome

shootingtakesplace.Most

importantly, whatever level

ofshootingis takingplace,

therewillbea levelofkeepering.

Addedtothis,mostshooting

peoplewillundertakevermin

controlintheirgardens.Even

if thefiguresarenotentirely

accurate,I thinkit wouldbefair

tosaythata largeproportion

ofthecountryis keepered in

someway.

WithfigureslikethisI find

it hardtobelievethatthe

shootingindustryingeneral

doesnothavea positive

effect on our core wildlife. The

questionthatis beggingto

beaskedis,whois supplying

thehabitatandlooking

afterourwildlife?DareI say,

gamekeepersandfarmers.

Againwithfigureslikethese,

I havegreatdifficultycoming

totheconclusionthatnature

reserves,nomatterhowwell

theyarelookedafter,can

possiblycontributeenoughto

makea significantdifference.

M. Hathaway, Dorset

MONITORIING

RAPTORS

Idonotshootbutmywifehas

beeninvolvedinpicking-upon

a localshootforsomeyears.

Forsometime,I havebeen

followingthenewsaboutraptors

disappearingintheuplands.

It wouldseemunlikelythat

gamekeepersaretoblamein

everysituationbutit’salsohard

toimaginethatthey are entirely

withoutguilt.

Theproblem,it seems,

withworkingoutwhat’struly

happenedis thatit is often

anti-shootinginterestswhohave

taggedtheraptorsandhave

possessionofthedata.Surelyit

wouldbesensibleif thedatawere

monitoredindependently?

P. Hodges, Kent

LETTER OF THE WEEK

BIGBROTHER

Hasshootingenteredintothe

twilightzoneof1984?Dowejust

rolloverandsay,yessir,thank

youverymuchforlettingushave

ourgenerallicencesbackfor

shootingpigeonandcorvids.

Whyarewenotquestioningwhat

hashappentousoverthe past

coupleofmonths?

NaturalEngland(NE)revokes

thegenerallicencestoshootpest

birdspecies.Theshootingpress

saidtheyhadbannedpigeon

shooting.I evensaidit ononeof

myvideos.NEsaidfromthestart

thatit hadnotbannedpigeon

shootingorpestcontrolandwe

couldusesection4 oftheWildlife

andCountrysideAct1981.

Ontheotherhand,our

shooting organisations said

wecouldnotrelyonsection4.

NaturalEnglandstartedtoreissue

generallicencesbutthistimethey

wereforeachbird.ThenDefra

askedforevidence and received

4,000replies.

MichaelGoveis headofDefra

asenvironmentsecretaryinthe

cabinet.Heissuedthreegeneral

licences,GL34,GL35andGL36.

Weallthinkwearebackto

normal.Thinkagain:wenowhave

twogenerallicencesforshooting

pigeons.WHY?Thereis GL

issuedbyNaturalEnglandand

GL36issuedbyDefra.Whichone

doweuse?NaturalEnglandwas

askedtorevokeitsGL31butsaid

someonemightliketouseit, so

it is stillonthewebsite.

Arewenowin 1984 country,

inwhichbigbrothercontrolsus

through regulation? A common-

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