jall25

Im in the woods - every day - we have loads of woodpeckers - I have only ever found 1 dead one i saw hit a tree in a gale Im really not sure this wild speculation is helping anything Conor

Hes now back at it calling for the ambassadors to petition WWF top brass WWF have responded

Im on a few forums and sadly there is so little engagement anyway

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Hi Conor I like BASC - you know i do - but to come on here without such info is not good is it really ? As above i understand training can be a positive but i do wonder if we are indeed putting up far more barriers ourselves

Conor Just reading on the BASC website about how BASC are urging .243 to be classified as able to continue to use lead and the fact that 60,000 people will be affected - If part of the move to lead free is to produce meat that can be sold as such what will be done will all these animals all these people cull with .243 and lead - can they not be sold into the market - Is BASC happy then that people risk the health of themselves and their own family eating this if BASC really think its detrimental to health ? It just seems at odds with itself to me Any thoughts / clarifications please ?

The chart details breeding birds mate I agree we should do our best to try and find out about issues but again our sample individually would be tiny . We have transitioned to steel because we have so much water now on our shoot - but i do think our birds have far bigger issues from things like poisons and chemicals damaging their health and breeding success. We dont use any of those now on the farm either and we are seeing massive bouncebacks in terms of insects and wild birds, despite the fact the shoot has been going for over 40 years and must be covered in tonnes upon tonnes of lead - much made accessible - possibly - by recent clearfell activity

What i mean OF is that broods hatch in May - but are then chopped in June / July - so really its as broad as long We have had great success leaving it later - and using no fert - so the sward opens up

Yes it would clear the issues up easily and i would imagine cheaply really Tbh OF - no mowing may - in my opinion would do little - you would see birds next in it to be chopped in June / July We have stopped cutting till 1st August No Mow May - Just leave it June and July !

And it would be so easy to do in the grand scheme of things We send wings of duck and woodcock off - why not do this ?

Conor Has a study been done as to how long the lead shot remains in the ground as viable "grit" for birds to potentially pick up - I would imagine it varies

Brill !

Sounds great We just shoot over 250 acres or so It was half commercial forestry with the other half improved grassland - but tbh i like the conservation aspect as much as the shooting - so the trees went - the fert / poisons went - hedges planted - covers planted - ponds dug - And here we are - Took a good few years but great to see and here the life now - Not to take the thread off kilter too much but we got second at the Purdeys this year

i have 3 cockers and a springer ! Imagine our house !

Hiya Konor We averaged this year 85 head - and had 14 days shooting We averaged 1:4 - but we try and bring on the lads so we may have 2/3 each week under maybe 13/14 years of age - and then we have a couple slowing down a bit mid 80s ! We dont shoot woodcock but put down 2300 pheasants and 600 partridge We also shoot a few duck - as i have made a lot of ponds but i mainly save these for beaters Our best ever day was 203 last year and i was a little worried if the game would all be taken and expected filling my own freezer - but honestly nothing was left - not even a feather ! We even have a chap who takes squirrels to eat ! We do have a lot of people attend the shoot as the land is mainly woods and can be hard going to find the birds in the brambles / cover - so we might have 20 beaters / 5 pickers up - 3/4 flaggers plus all the guns - a game cart man - so sometimes its a battle who takes the birds - not if any are ever left