Dear Secretary of State,
Firstly, please can I extend my congratulations to you in your new position as Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. I am writing to you with regards to the Wild Justice petition to limit the woodcock shooting season.
The GWCT has led research into woodcock conservation over the last 40 years, much of which has been funded by the shooting community, and our research is ongoing. We devised an appropriate survey method for breeding woodcock and pushed for national surveys with the BTO in 2003 and 2013, to quantify the size of the population and change in numbers. We have studied their migratory patterns, habitat requirements and response to cold weather. We work closely with the Woodcock Network, a group of passionate volunteers who help ring woodcock each winter and who assisted with our tracking studies. We believe therefore, that we are in a good position to inform discussions on Wild Justice’s Petition to limit the woodcock shooting season.
Using the national survey data from 2003 and 2013 we were able to explore habitat relationships for breeding woodcock. At large landscape-scale breeding woodcock abundance was positively correlated with total woodland area and woodland heterogeneity. Woodcock were less abundant close to urban areas. On a within-wood scale, tree species composition and open areas within the woodland influenced woodcock abundance. No evidence was found for an effect of cropping outside woodland or roe deer abundance. This work indicates that area of suitable habitat, woodland management and possibly human recreation or disturbance affect breeding woodcock. The study was not able to assess the contributions of predation and shooting to woodcock abundance or trends.
Changes in woodland management over the last 50 years have been implicated in the decline of other woodland birds and trial management has now been demonstrated to be beneficial. From GPS tracking of breeding woodcock in Sherwood Forest, Nottinghamshire and near Andover, Hampshire we have a clearer understanding of which woodland features are heavily utilised by woodcock and we are ready to initiate trial management.
Woodcock shooting
Owing to the decline in our resident woodcock population and the lack of any studies examining the impact of shooting on woodcock populations, as a precautionary measure GWCT advises shoots in areas where there are breeding woodcock to delay the start of their season until 1 December. By this time large numbers of migrant woodcock have arrived, and any impact from shooting on residents will be reduced. There is a high level of compliance with GWCT advice not to shoot woodcock before 1 December. In a recent survey (winter 2017/18), 75% of respondents said that they had delayed their shooting season.
Most of the shooting pressure on woodcock is in western regions of the UK because this is where we have the highest densities of migrant woodcock but where no resident woodcock breed.
Shooting pressure on our UK breeding woodcock is very low. A GWCT-Oxford University study using stable isotopes to determine breeding origin showed that less than 6% of a sample of c.1,200 woodcock shot across the UK in the early 2000’s were from our resident population.
A paper recently published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, examines the sustainability of shooting on populations of UK quarry species. It indicates that there is a very low probability of unsustainable harvesting of resident or migrant woodcock.
Why continue with voluntary restraint rather than change the close season?
Given the available evidence we do not believe that a statutory change in the season will have any beneficial impact on our resident woodcock. There is already an indication, at a national scale, of a reduction in hunting pressure over the last 20 years. This suggests that another factor, such as change in habitat quality or predation pressure, is primarily responsible for driving the decline. Based on our current understanding of breeding woodcock, conservation effort would be better devoted to restoring suitable habitat.
GWCT and BTO will be conducting a repeat national breeding woodcock survey in 2023. This will provide an up-to-date population estimate and enable regional assessments of change in breeding woodcock numbers since 2013. It is our advice to wait for the results of this survey before a change to the close season is considered. The season for woodcock could be reviewed later next year, by which time there will be more published science from GWCT on the effect of shooting and current data on the status of our breeding population. The breeding population is not so critically low that waiting a year will make a difference.
At a time of such major changes in policy on land management and agriculture, we believe that Government should spend its resources on making law changes that will make measurable differences to biodiversity.
If we really want to see an increase in our woodcock population we should manage our woodland better, not only for woodcock, but woodland biodiversity overall – and better carbon capture. GWCT has promoted and advised on woodland management to landowners for decades.
Educating practitioners and demonstrating best practice can be more effective than compulsory measures. Conservation works best when land managers are motivated to drive it themselves. There is a risk of complacency about addressing woodcock habitat if a change in the close season is promoted as the solution to halting the breeding population decline.
Eighty one percent of respondents in a recent survey of shoots said that they conduct woodland management. Hence, it is likely that shoots could play an important role in positive woodland management. Coupled with predation management this might have prevented a greater decline in our resident woodcock population.
Parts of western Britain have no history of breeding woodcock, but host large numbers of migrants, so shooting in these areas does not put residents at risk except during cold spells when residents might move south and west. Businesses that have no impact on resident woodcock would be adversely affected.
Further work and proposed actions
In addition to the 2023 breeding woodcock survey, GWCT staff are currently writing scientific papers which will provide better information on the effect of shooting on woodcock populations and inform habitat management for breeding woodcock. Papers are in preparation on the following topics and will be submitted in this order between November 2022 and June 2023.
1. Woodcock origins based on stable isotopes – this will quantify regional variation in the proportion of resident woodcock in shooting bags.
2. Wintering woodcock survival rates – a comparison will be made between a site with high and sites with low shooting pressure.
3. Regional and temporal variation in woodcock bags, harvest rates and what constitutes a sustainable level of shooting.
4. Characteristics of woodland favoured by breeding woodcock, based on GPS-tracked birds, including a comparison of resident UK breeders and birds breeding in Scandinavia and Russia.
We suggest that policy for declining species should be adapted according to the latest science. Changing the woodcock season now does not make sense when there will be much better evidence about the current status of the breeding population, the effect of shooting and influence of other factors on breeding woodcock numbers in a year’s time.
Mechanisms for delivering better habitat such as the Nature Recovery Network, woodland grant schemes and ELMs should be promoted and measures likely to benefit woodcock should be highlighted.
We are looking to initiate woodland management trials to provide better evidence on the most effective measures for improving woodcock habitat and recovering breeding numbers.
Poor breeding success, largely owing to predation of nests and chicks, is a driver in the declines of almost all the other red-listed ground-nesting birds in the UK for which there is good data on population dynamics. It is quite plausible that predation has an important influence on woodcock populations and this needs investigation. If poor breeding success owing to predation is a factor in declines, shoots would be well placed to help with recovery.
We would be delighted to discuss any of the points above in more detail with you if that would be helpful.
Yours sincerely
Dr. Roger Draycott
Director of Advisory, Education & Gamebird Policy