BASC’s campaign to showcase shooting’s year-round value

Year-round conservation in focus

BASC has launched a Four Seasons campaign designed to highlight the conservation work carried out by the shooting community throughout the year and encourage members to share their stories and evidence. The campaign is built around the changing seasons, with different conservation activities and their benefits brought into focus as the year progresses. 

This spring, the campaign is focusing on grey partridge conservation, moorland management and lowland predator management, says BASC. Cover crops being sown now for summer gamebird releases are also in the spotlight. An estimated 25,000 hectares of cover crops are planted annually as a result of shooting, providing habitat for wildlife far beyond the gamebirds they are principally intended to serve.

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Push for data and participation

BASC is urging members to gather evidence and take part in monitoring schemes such as the GWCT partridge count scheme or BASC’s own duck nest tube programme. The organisation says the campaign is as much about generating hard data as telling positive stories.

The call to action comes at a sensitive time, with a quarry species review underway and potential reviews of gamebird shooting and releasing expected to follow. Ian Danby, BASC’s head of biodiversity, said the campaign would help BASC secure vital cross-party political support.

He told Shooting Times: “Our Four Seasons campaign celebrates the year-round conservation efforts we each contribute to. It is time to tell our story and that depends on you. The more stories we can share, the more successful the campaign will be.”