Public opinion , the furture of the countryside and our shooting

[anser2]

In the Off Topic " vanibaby" brought up a great topic pointing out a recent survey that over 50% of the public knew nothing about the countryside and thought it boreing. I rarely read the Off topic and I think this subject is far too important to be left out of sight there as our furtue shooting dedends so much on the British public.

 

Like so many on here its so easy to think ok let the townies stay in their town and leave the countryside for us to play in , but its not quite that easy. The future of the countryside depends on public interest in it. As long as there is a strong support to protect our countryside the government of the day will pay heed and ensure its protection. But governments only listen to what the public want and are prepared to pay taxes for. In the future if public interest in the countryside disappears governments will not be prepared to put money into conservation and protection of wildlife habitats. Last year I saw a government think tank adviser say on TV if people want butterflies and birds in the countryside they should be prepared to pay for it by perhaps paying a tax of wildlife friendly produced butter or milk. For the rest of the public should have the right to get its food as cheaply as possible and if that means grubbing out all the hedges and trees and turning the countryside into a farming factory with no wildlife then so be it.

 

If our shooting sports are going to continue for our children to enjoy we need public support not just for shooting , but also for our countryside and the way its managed. I know townies not knowing countryside ways are a real pain and a distinct threat to our shooting , but unless we can bring them around to our way of thinking not just about shooting , but more importantly the way our countryside is managed then within the next 50 years it will all be gone and we will see one wheat field stretching from Scotland to the English channel.

 

Remember governments only respond to the wants of the electorate. If in the future the electorate do not want or care about hedges . ponds , woods and fields ( that our sporting quarry live in ) the government will cease to fund environmental protection , i.e. farmland consservation grants \ reserves\ wardens \ forestry conservation grants and so on.

 

So few people now live in the countryside we need townspeople to have a knowledge of the British countryside and a passion for it or it will be lost in the fairly near future.

 

If anyone doubts this just think back 40 years , when our hedges were full of corn buntings and tree sparrows , nearly every coppice had a pair of turtle doves in summer , hares were almost a pest , in the uplands blackcock were still widespread as far south as Devon , most marshes across the country had breeding snipe and we expected field ponds to be full of frogs and toads. Why have we lost them ? Mainly due to pressure to farm as efficently as possible. Thats not to blame farmers , they are just responding to market pressure.

 

If you get the chance get children involved in the countryside even if its just pond dipping or watching the rearing field or we might be the last generation to know a countryside full of a diversity of wildlife.

 

 

Heavy thoughts from talk from the field , but next time you are sitting in a hide with no pigeons about , just ponder some of the points above and draw your own conclusions.

Edited April 1, 2009 by anser2

[Ferret Master]

Very well said. Struck a chord with me being one of the 'younger generation' stuck in a housing estate.

 

FM

[henry d]

I will move this to the right section.................

[Baldrick]

Remember governments only respond to the wants of the electorate. If in the future the electorate do not want or care about hedges . ponds , woods and fields ( that our sporting quarry live in ) the government will cease to fund environmental protection , i.e. farmland conservation grants \ reserves\ wardens \ forestry conservation grants and so on.

 

A cracking post, anser2, and noble sentiments. However I disagree strongly with your comment that HMG responds to the will of the electorate. Was the electorate polled on the Hunting Act 2004, badger culling in England, the creation of the new South Downs National Park and a whole raft of other decisions that fundamentally affect the British rural community?

 

No. We weren't. MPs work for us, but they appear to have ignored their remit quite some time ago. Fish rot from the head, and I am sick of being persecuted, pressured and bossed about by corrupt, blinkered and utterly ignorant Labour Party scum.

 

If the Government responded to what most countrymen want, then Blair, the one-eyed Scottish idiot, David Milipaed and Hillary Benn would all have been humanely despatched some time ago.

[markb]

The Government does not listen to the public, it does what it thinks will keep it in power for longer.

Didn't a few hundred thousand people march in London to get across their feelings about their "sport" what did the government do?

it unleashed it's militia on women and children to get it's point across, which was, hunting will be banned what ever you say.

As for farming, well we have to do what ever xxxx comes out of Brussels, we are supposed to have groups in place that help protect us from unfair

and overly expensive legislation, one group calls it self the national farmers union, most people in my area say the letters NFU stand for something completly

different, no xxxxxxx use, membership to this group is worked out on acerage (sorry hecterage) so all they're interested in is the big arable farms in the east, they dont support small family farms at all now, that means 90% of farms in Wales, that also means a step closer to the mono culture you fear,

We get "the public " around here because we live in a national park whoop pee, oh what joy. we get the boy racers in groups of about 10 to 15 in their little souped up corsa's and other crapy little cars traveling at 50 or 60 mph around lanes that you can't see more than 30 yards in front of you, because of the bends.

what's round the corner flock of sheep, cows horses people who cares let them into the country side to play, also 3 miles up the road I have grazing rights on the common, big signs 4 x 4 inches by the cattle grid telling people no camping no dogs off leads, does that make any difference. no & what do the park wardens do well nothing beacause they dont work week ends. but if a ewe dies or we dont gather when we are told to, boy the trouble that gets us into

thing is I love it were I live I moved here to get away from txxxxxs in suits, and it turns out that I'm more of a civil servant than a farmer these days.

the banners said keep your bxxxsxxx in the towns and we will keep ours in the countryside, fine let them in but they are not going to tell me what I can and cant do. :angry: