New report identifies that gamekeepers help wild birds to thrive.
The shooting season is underway but the role of gamekeepers in conservingmany non-gamebirds is not widely understood. Many songbirds and other birdspecies have dramatically declined in recent decades but a new report showsthat where land is managed by gamekeepers many species thrive.
The report 'Singing fields' compiled by Dr Stephen Tapper, director ofpolicy and public affairs with the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust(formerly The Game Conservancy Trust), highlights the contribution thatgamekeepers have made in protecting many of our most threatened birds fromstarvation and attack from generalist predators such as foxes, magpies andcrows.
'Singing fields' draws on recent research by the Trust's own wildlifebiologists as well as other experts and assesses the evidence that shows thespecies that do and do not benefit from game management activities, such aspredator control, habitat creation and feeding techniques.
Dr Tapper explains, "Gamekeepers manage large parts of the countryside forpheasants, partridges and grouse and in so doing, create conditions thatbenefit other birds too. Game management delivers a very considerable netconservation gain and without this conservation work, carried out by the3,000 gamekeepers working in our countryside, the prospects for manydeclining wild bird populations would be much worse."
A 10-year study on the Trust's Allerton Farm project at Loddington providescompelling evidence to support this view and shows how farmland birdsbenefit from game management. Over the study period habitat improvement andpredator control boosted the number of wren (from 47 to 141 pairs), dunnock(46 to 144 pairs), blackbird (66 to 143 pairs) and song thrush (14 to 56pairs). The most noticeable beneficiaries of this regime were the residentseed-eating finches who took advantage of the pheasant feeders and set-asidecover crops. Interestingly, many of these species declined after predatorcontrol was stopped in 2002.
In the uplands, gamekeepers burn heather and control crows, foxes and stoatswhich provide ideal nesting areas for waders. Lapwings are at least twice ascommon on grouse moors. On the North Pennine moors there are at least 700pairs of golden plover and 3,900 pairs of curlew. Raptors like merlin alsothrive and occur at much higher densities on grouse moors than on othermoors.
Dr Tapper concludes, "Gamekeepers make an often unappreciated contributionto the richness of bird life in the countryside. Intensive farming andforestry means that wild birds often struggle to find shelter and food inmodern crops. Conservation is not just about creating nature reserves. Itmust also be about economic land use and how this can be made to supportincreased biodiversity. Game management for pheasants, partridges andgrouse is a good example of this as it supports a variety of other speciesas well."