10/3/2022

We cannot turn back the clock to a time when landscapes went unmanaged: Our letter in the Shooting Times

Written by James Swyer, Press and Publications Manager

1 Minute Read

Lindsey Waddell is quite right when he asserts that ‘if you want to retain our bird populations in the uplands, there is good reason to wind things back’ (Upland keeper, 23 February). Much is made of rewilding to a bucolic, distant and sometimes fictional period of history where our fields were awash with beasts of all shapes and sizes, but we’d do well to look at the most recent past and learn from other custodians of the land. We cannot turn back the clock to a time when landscapes went unmanaged, nor should we want to, so let’s take the best of what we know and manage heather, predators and all other aspects of our uplands for the greatest possible outcome.

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Comments

What is 'the greatest possible outcome'?

at 15:22 on 15/03/2022 by Martin Bailey

Winding the clock back to a rewilded landscape teeming with wildlife means ecosystems will be self-managing, with large herbivores maintaining the landscape-scale mosaics of habitats suitable for a wide range of species. In this sort of landscape, managing predators such as foxes is not likely to be required, as there will be apex predators to deal with them. Then the more challenging walked-up grouse shooting can take place, involving some degree of skill, and without being a competition to get the biggest 'bag'. Take a look at the great work going on at Mar Lodge to see how things could, and should, be.

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