Derbyshire game shoot shows what cover crops can do for nature recovery

A small Derbyshire game shoot is being held up as an example of what game cover crops can deliver for nature recovery, after BASC published a case study of the conservation work on its ground in June 2026.

A woodland shoot punching above its weight

Jim and Catherine Allsop run the Monk Wood Shoot near Chesterfield, a DIY game shoot on 270 acres of largely wooded ground. With less open space than a typical lowland shoot, Jim has still put in more than 20 acres of wild bird cover, only a tenth of it funded through public schemes and the rest paid for by the shoot.

Which cover crops does the shoot use?

Rather than single straights, the shoot uses mixes of kale, turnip rape, the kale and mustard hybrid utopia, quinoa, sunflowers and phacelia, chosen for biodiversity as well as for holding birds. No artificial fertiliser, pesticides or herbicides are used and any weeding is done by hand.

Every cover sits near one of the many ponds being created on the shoot, and more than 50 feeding stations are topped up year round, not just through the hungry gap. Covers are staggered in age across the ground so there is always brood-rearing and winter holding cover.

What does predator control deliver?

Control of crows, magpies, rats and foxes underpins the work, with fox numbers brought down from more than 100 a year to low tens. Birdlife recorded on the shoot includes bittern, nightjar, barn owl and woodcock, with local wildlife trusts visiting to log the diversity. The shoot moved to steel shot last season.

Why does it matter for nature recovery?

With the Government weighing the part shooting plays in nature recovery, the Allsops’ ground is a practical answer, showing what smaller game shoots can achieve when habitat and predator control are taken seriously. BASC, which published the case study, said it showed what smaller shoots could deliver.