Shooting UK is your complete shooting resource. From gun reviews to shotgun licence and firearms certificate information, to clay pigeon shooting, game shooting, shooting lessons and gundog training.
By Joe Dimbleby
Wednesday, 22 December 2010
As shooters comply with voluntary and statutory restraints, wildfowlers report birds in good condition, despite the cold
Despite the continued cold weather causing shooting to be suspended in Northern Ireland and Scotland earlier this month, wildfowlers around the country remain positive about their sport. The 14-day suspensions prohibited the shooting of wild birds including duck, geese, woodcock, snipe, golden plover and reared mallard.
This is the second time this year that temporary legal suspensions, introduced by each government in the UK on the 15th day of severe weather, have been put in place. Bans were still in place as this magazine went to press, but are usually reviewed after seven days, and may be lifted if the weather has greatly improved.
Wildfowlers in England and Wales escaped a ban,though BASC had already called for shooters there to exercise restraint. Shooting Times’s mid-season report (opposite) shows the effect that the weather has had on the birds, but Gloucestershire Wildfowlers’ Haydn Jones remains optimistic. He said: “Like elsewhere in the country, our patch is frozen up at the moment, but we’re still hoping for a reasonable season.”
Though the ban only concerns duck and waders, the cold weather has also affected other wild gamebirds. Shooting Times’s Upland keeper Lindsay Waddell said: “It’s worse than last year because it’s come sooner. If this weather carries on it will cause severe problems for wildlife such as blackgrouse and wild greys following the losses of last winter.”
The rest of this article appears in 22nd December issue of Shooting Times.
It has been said that the reason the British talk ...
With an eye-catching stock and hand-cut scroll-engraving, the new Purd... Read more
Dartford Clay Shooting Club (DCSC), in Kent, will continue with its &p... Read more
Don't miss this week's issue (on sale Wednesday 16th May). FREE PRIZE DRAW: Win a Browning T-bolt.22 and Winchester ammo. Graham Downing gives his tips on where to find the best foreign sport! For all this and a whole lot more buy your copy today!
Save up to 31% on a subscription to Shooting Times & Country Magazine, subscribe today and perfect gift this Christmas.
Comments