The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) has launched a new project, SAMARCH (Salmonid Management Round the Channel), to provide vital research on rapidly declining salmon and sea trout populations. SAMARCH is a cross-border project, with 10 partner organisations — five in France and five in the UK — and…
News
Massive support for Commonwealth Games petition
The Shooting Times petition to put shooting sports back on to the programme for the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games has been signed over 50,000 people at the time of writing. Shooting is to be excluded from the competition for the first time in more than half a century, at least…
Shooters can help deliver new environmental plan
Shooters and farmers have a big part to play in delivering the Government’s new 25 Year Environmental Plan, say rural groups. The plan for a “cleaner, greener Britain” was launched by Prime Minister Theresa May earlier this month and includes the creation of the previously announced Northern Forest, along with…
Defra boss shares rural vision
Rural groups have welcomed the commitment to British farming shown by Defra secretary Michael Gove as he set out his vision for the future of the industry in a speech earlier this month. Speaking at the 2018 Oxford Farming Conference, Mr Gove highlighted issues he wished to tackle to ensure…
Fury as councillors end shooting on Ilkley Moor
Bradford Council’s Labour Group has refused to renew the grouse shooting lease on Ilkley Moor in a move shooting groups claimed was made to appease the animal rights lobby. Bradford Labour has majority on the council and a decision to renew the lease rested in its hands. The lease had…
New Northern Forest to be planted
The Government has announced plans to create a new Northern Forest spanning more than 120 miles between Bradford, Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool. With backing from Defra secretary Michael Gove, the Woodland Trust and Community Forest Trust propose to plant more than 50 million trees along the M62 corridor from Liverpool…
Lobby your MP for fair firearms licensing
The Countryside Alliance has launched a new campaign seeking consistent and fair firearms licensing. It comes in response to the “failing” medical procedures introduced in 2016 for shooters seeking applications and renewals, which have been criticised for being applied inconsistently across different counties – with some applicants being charged up…
Keepers helped feed homeless this Christmas
Angus and Grampian gamekeepers teamed up to give more than 600 homeless and vulnerable people a freshly cooked meal of local game over the festive period. Members of the Angus Glens Moorland Group and Grampian Moorland Group worked to deliver locally reared oven-ready pheasants and partridges, as well as fresh…
Help to save grey partridges by noting your numbers
Keepers, farmers and land managers are being urged to take part in the Partridge Count Scheme this spring. The annual monitoring initiative, which started in 1933, is led by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) and collects information on the breeding success of grey partridges, which have been in…
Shooting dropped from Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games
Shooting sports look set to be excluded from the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games, reportedly due to the lack of a suitable venue. This will be the first time since 1970 that shooting has not featured at the Games and shooters have expressed shock after the BBC reported that the exclusion…
BASC confronts West Sussex council over snare ban
BASC has criticised West Sussex County Council’s decision to introduce a snaring ban without holding a consultation first and accused it of breaching the Regulators’ Code. The council introduced a prohibition on the use of snares by tenants on all of its land following the tabling of a motion by…
Government airgun consultation underway
The Home Office has launched its consultation into the regulation of airguns, which was announced last year. Stakeholders and the public were asked to respond with their opinions as to whether existing legislation is sufficient to prevent children accessing airguns. BASC told the Home Office that no further restrictions are…
New maps help crack down on bird crime
New interactive maps have been hailed as a valuable tool in the fight against raptor persecution. The maps detail incidents involving the shooting, poisoning and trapping of birds of prey, and the destruction of their nests in England and Wales. They were developed by the Raptor Persecution Priority Delivery Group…
Annual Woodcock Club dinner to be held at Hatfield House
We are delighted to announce the location and date of the 34th annual Shooting Times Woodcock Club dinner. The hotly anticipated event will be held at the Old Palace at Hatfield House in Hertfordshire on the 24th March 2018. The Old Palace at Hatfield House is charged with a unique…
Air weapons review opened this week
The air weapons review was announced in October following a recommendation by Her Majesty’s Senior Coroner for Suffolk, Dr Peter Dean, who wrote to the Home Office requesting a review after the death of Benjamin Wragge, aged 13, who was accidently shot by an air weapon. The review will seek…
Keepers and farmers can help wading birds
A new report by the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) has emphasised the key role that gamekeepers on grouse moors can play in the conservation of upland waders. The report highlights a pilot project in Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales National Park, which has been trialling methods for involving keepers…
New London shooting fair announced
A brand-new shooting show is coming to the capital next year with the launch of the first annual London Wing Shooting Fair. Held at the Business Design Centre in Islington on 23-24 March 2018, the show will run alongside the existing London Fly Fishing Fair in a neighbouring hall on…
GWCT calls for shooter restraint on declining woodcock
Shooters are being asked to reduce the number of migrant woodcock they shoot due to the species’ poor breeding season. Andrew Hoodless, head of wetland research at the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) has called for restraint from shooters in the UK after concerns were initially raised by woodcock…
Game industry cuts antibiotic use
Reduction in antibiotics in meat from game Shooting and game bird organisations have welcomed a big fall in the number of antibiotics used in the rearing of pheasants and partridges in the UK. Figures endorsed by the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD) were released in October 2017, showing that antibiotics used…
Bywell estate shoot wins 2017 Gold Purdey Award
The Bywell shoot in Northumberland has won the 2017 Purdey Gold Award for Game and Conservation. Bywell estate owners Viscount Allendale and his son, the Hon Wentworth Beaumont, along with headkeeper Alan Edwards, were presented with the trophy and £5,000 by BBC Countryfile star Adam Henson at a ceremony in…