Lowland game
Ecological effects of releasing for shooting There is considerable scope to reduce the negative effects of pheasant releasing and enhance positive ones by adhering to sustainable releasing practices. © Peter Thompson
BACKGROUND Releasing pheasants and red-legged partridges for shooting has steadily increased over the last six and four decades respectively. Today, around 42 million pheasants and 11 million partridges are normally released each year in late summer (not in 2020). Pheasants are released into large woodland-based opentopped pens and partridges usually into smaller, initially closed, pens on farmland. The basic aim of their management in and around release sites is to keep them healthy, protect them from predators and provide attractive habitat that holds birds to facilitate driving and shooting during the winter.
64 | GAME & WILDLIFE REVIEW 2020
Released gamebirds and their management have a range of potential effects on habitats and other wildlife, many of which have been looked at scientifically by the GWCT and others. In 2020, we systematically accessed and reviewed this literature and published a paper in the scientific journal Wildlife Biology. This article provides an overview of its main findings (see page 66). In the paper, we used the literature to define relevant topics which, in turn, were used to produce the summary synthesis illustrated in Figure 1. In general, negative effects are caused by the birds themselves while positive effects are usually a consequence of management activities. Some of the negative effects, such as damage to woodland plants or insects, are spatially confined (eg. at the release site) while others, in particular disease issues and the effect of releasing on generalist predators, may occur at a landscape scale. Many of the positive effects of woodland planting or woodland management, hedge management and game crops occur at the scale of a whole woodland, estate or farm. Woodlands are the most widespread semi-natural habitat in lowland Britain. The review identifies a range of benefits of habitat management for pheasants in and around woodlands which arguably outweigh the negative impacts, which mainly occur at release points. Some negative effects have relatively straightforward management solutions. In particular, most local effects reduce with lower densities of birds at release sites. There is also scope for shoots to identify sensitive sites and avoid conflicts with, for example, reptile colonies or woodland areas with valuable ground vegetation. GWCT radio-tracking work at many sites over the last 30 years indicates that at least 90% of surviving pheasants and partridges remain well within one kilometre of the release point even on very large shoots where birds can move between different release pen and game crop areas. Some positive management activities, such as game crop plantings or predator control, are more effectively implemented at larger releases. Overall, the work suggests that there is an approximate balance of positive, neutral and negative effects of releasing. Another finding from the review is that more work is needed. For example, the effect of releases on predator abundance has not been properly explored and there will be other specific conflicts between gamebirds, other animals and plants. A key aim of future GWCT research in this area is to look at areas where gains can be made and to encourage practices that enhance the benefits, reduce the negatives and hence ensure a net overall gain in biodiversity. Using this information in a programme of widespread engagement with best practice, we expect to be able to point to an overall positive ecological effect of releasing in the future. Negative effects will, however, remain. When assessing these it is
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