“Natural England will be making recommendations based on the science” was the verdict of Environment Minister Trudy Harrison as she closed the petitions committee debate on woodcock yesterday (Monday 27 February). The debate was brought about by a Wild Justice petition calling for a shorter open season for shooting woodcock, with the campaign group arguing for the season to start on 1 December on a statutory basis. The three directors of Wild Justice (Chris Packham, Ruth Tingay and Mark Avery) were in attendance to observe the discussion.
Opening the debate, Jonathan Gullis (Conservative MP for Stoke on Trent North) made it clear that he hadn’t heard of woodcock before he volunteered to take on the debate, but ended opening comments by stating his own views that “I do not see why we cannot come to a statutory agreement that the shooting season should take place from 1 December. When a bird is placed on the red list and is in decline, it is the responsibility of UK law makers to ensure we protect and preserve those animals, allowing them to repopulate as quickly as possible. Then, when the bird is moved off the red list, we can have an open conversation about whether to change the shooting season back to the current informal agreement.”
He did, however, also state clearly that “The GWCT argues strongly that Wild Justice has failed to consider some of the nuances involved in the debate on this subject; it believes that it would be more appropriate to consider a change to the shooting season when the results of the national breeding woodcock survey—to be repeated in 2023, 10 years after the last survey—are known.”
Much of the conversation strayed onto the wider issues affecting woodcock, particularly habitat and tree cover. Olivia Blake, Labour MP for Sheffield Hallam, called for greater investment in green infrastructure and challenged the Minister to hit the government’s tree-planting targets. Others highlighted the potential impact of climate change on the migratory behaviour of woodcock, woodland degradation by deer and maturing conifer plantations.
There was, as you might expect, some difference of opinion, and those in agreement with Wild Justice came from both sides of the house. Alex Sobel, Shadow Minister for Nature Recovery and Domestic Environment, stated that “the data is clear that any bird shot in this period is a resident bird”, before saying ”Given that bird conservation and shooting groups seem to agree on the threat to the resident population and the need for a shorter season, does the Minister agree that there seems to be a lot of merit in the RSPB’s proposal of a temporary measure on those lines? Should it not be considered to allow the full impact of a later start to be properly studied and assessed? The temporary measure would have a positive impact on resident woodcock, and would satisfy all stakeholders, giving us a chance to pause and do what we can to protect those resident woodcock.” This was despite citing our work in saying that “data from the GWCT shows that around 8% of shot woodcock are resident, with the remaining 92% migratory”.
Conservative MP Duncan Baker, whose North Norfolk constituency reflects both many of the signatories and a keen shooting community, made a distinction between released game such as pheasants and wild game such as woodcock, suggesting that this was greater justification for not shooting woodcock. He closed by saying that “looking to the short term, rather than to long-term ambitions, is something that we can do right now to prevent the further decline of resident and breeding woodcock on our shores. I believe that considering limiting the shooting season for woodcock can be a decent step in the right direction.”
There were, however, more MPs who questioned what good a statutory change might do.
Sir Robert Goodwill, MP for Scarborough and Whitby and GWCT Trustee, highlighted the importance of our research and the importance of good management from the game community. He noted that “The more shooting farms and estates we have, the more land managers will be engaged in the conservation work we need to rebuild our native woodcock population” and made it clear his view that “The proposal in the petition will have little effect on the resident population.”
We heard the personal experiences of Jim Shannon, the DUP MP for Strangford, who spoke about the positive impact of shooting interests in delivering the habitat in which woodcock can thrive in Northern Ireland, as well as his belief that voluntary restraint is working. “We do not need a petition to tell us what to do. We can do those things already, we can make those contributions and we are doing that”, he stated, before highlighting that “Extensive research into this area has been carried out by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust” and “The GWCT research highlights the fact that the main reason for their decline is a change in their habitat. I put this on record because it is important.”
David Simmonds, Conservative MP for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner also stated that he didn’t see the need for regulation, while his party colleague Sir Bill Wiggin, Conservative MP for North Herefordshire, fresh from correcting Mr Gullis on an erroneous ‘s’ on the plural of woodcock, made a fervent case for the good that game management can do. “The answer must be that the problem is not shooting; the problem is habitat, and it always will be with these particularly wonderful birds.”
Focusing on the matter of further legislation, he made his viewpoint clear, reiterating that “If both sides of the argument agree that woodcock are special and should not really be shot until mid-November or the beginning of December, why do we need to legislate? We need to legislate when things go wrong, not when things are going right, and I think that—by and large—people have not thought about what punishment they would like to see for somebody who shoots a woodcock at the end of November.”
Fellow Conservative Greg Smith was similarly impassioned - “The longer that transition is left as voluntary— I stress the word “voluntary” — then the future benefits of shooting will be all the greater, not just to the economy but to getting more game meat into the food chain.” He went on to agree with the principle outlined by Sir Bill Wiggin, declaring that “we must ask ourselves this question: what good would it do to put another piece of legislation on the statute book? What would it achieve? Would it change anything on the ground? The answer can only be no.”
Quite possibly taking aim at the petitioners, he closed by saying “While the petition looks at specific dates around the shooting season, there is no question but that there are those out there who want to stop shooting altogether. They want to stop the British public shooting game and, more importantly, eating that healthy, nutritious source of food. But there is a reality that underpins that mission, and it is fantasy-land politics to believe that, if it were successful and we no longer shot and ate game, that would suddenly lead to a massive growth in the woodcock population or any other species.”
Environment Minister Trudy Harrison, who serves as the MP for Copeland, highlighted the important findings made in our Conserving the Woodcock report, asserting that “organisations such as the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust are playing an important, much-appreciated role, as has been discussed. I read with interest its 36-page “Conserving Our Woodcock” leaflet. I acknowledge the research that has been undertaken and, most crucially, its very clear message: do not shoot woodcock before 1 December.“ Closing her comments, Mrs Harrison made it clear that “Our decision on what to take forward will be based on the science”.
You can watch the proceedings here or read the full transcript in Hansard here. Thank you to all members and supporters who contacted their MP and asked them to participate.