Research and scientific facts to enable field sports to survive
Recently GWCT’s director of advisory, Dr Roger Draycott, replied to The Guardian’s article 'Slaughter of UK’s imported gamebirds carries a heavy price', where Mark Glover’s view that gamebird releasing causes environmental carnage.
It is thanks to the GWCT’s scientifically based research that Dr Draycott can unequivocally state this is not supported by the scientific evidence.
He states: “Records suggest the number of foxes increased threefold during the 1970s and 80s when releasing was at a low level. Since then, releasing has maintained an upward trajectory, whereas over the same period, according to British Trust for Ornithology mammal monitoring records, foxes have declined."
Mr Glover goes on to complain about the amount of wheat put out for gamebirds, but scientific studies show that songbirds make significant use of gamebird feeders, helping sustain them through the winter months.
One study showed that a quarter of all wildlife visits to pheasant feeders were by songbirds and another showed that winter feeding gamebirds can increase songbird breeding densities the following spring.
Further research has shown 100 times more songbirds in crops grown for game birds than found in conventional crops and at the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust’s GWCT demonstration farm in Leicestershire.
"At a time when there is little food or habitat for wildlife in the farmed environment, the impact on UK biodiversity of banning sustainable gamebird releasing and management would, paradoxically, be much more akin to the ‘environmental carnage’ he describes.”
This is why supporting the GWCT is so important, research and scientific facts are what will enable our field sports to survive.
Charlotte Marrison is chairman of the Shropshire branch of the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT)
