Minister backs blackgrouse

The importance of game management was acknowledged at Government level last Friday, when Richard Benyon MP, minister for the natural environment, launched a strategy to safeguard the remaining English blackgrouse population. The strategy, a partnership between the GWCT and the RSPB, will play a crucial role in delivering the agreed targets to double the population from 1,000 males in 2010 to 2,000 by 2030.

Blackgrouse in England are now restricted to the northern Pennine hills. Re-establishment of areas of scrub and pockets of native woodland, and translocation of males to expand the birds? range are among the key elements of the plan, which, as Mike Clarke, chief executive of the RSPB, noted ?has to be done through partnership ? it cannot be done on its own.?

The rest of this article appears in the 25th July issue of Shooting Times.

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The rest of this article appears in the 4th July issue of Shooting Times.

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