I'm delighted to hear that Defra has issued full licenses to the four shoots on Salisbury Plain to go ahead and lay down birds for next season. Last year there was a major impediment to this annual rhythm when Defra, unilaterally, without consultation and without warning, and at the worst possible moment when the birds had already been ordered and paid for, announced that this could not happen. The reason given was the threat of avian flu to the populations of rare wild birds on the Plain. As I - and many others - argued, shooting posed no threat to these species, which in fact only exist in the healthy numbers they do in our area because of the stewardship of the land by the shoots' gamekeepers: the ground cover needed for pheasants are just what curlews like too.
It's great news that this year Defra have seen sense and I'm grateful to Ministers for their engagement over the last 12 months. Most of all I'm grateful to The Royal Artillery Shoot, Tidworth and Bulford Garrison Shoot, The Infantry Shoot and Netheravon Shoot who did what they could to look after the land despite the huge financial hit the loss of their license meant for them - with some gamekeepers continuing to work for no pay. These shoots are not the huge commercial operations that many people naturally object to - slaughtering hundreds of birds a day - but small-scale and sustainable. They provide a strong fibre of community in our area, bringing together people from across the neighbourhood (mostly military and ex-military but not exclusively) for a healthy activity which positively impacts the local environment.
