Driven game shooting on farms in Essex, UK: implications of land management and conservation.

Abstract

Driven game shooting is a traditional countryside pursuit in Britain, but research has generally neglected analysis of shooting as an alternative or complementary recreational opportunity on farmland, or as an appropriate conservation strategy benefiting other species. A survey questionnaire was designed and distributed to shoot and non-shoot farms in Essex, U.K. This is in a region of the U.K. that is rapidly becoming more urbanised. Farms with driven game shooting represent 10% of all agricultural holdings of Essex. The 1995 survey addressed issues relative to the implementation of conservation measures on the farm. The survey results suggest that farm size and personal interest and inclination, but not ownership patterns or farm types, influenced whether game shooting took place on the farm. The majority of shoot landowners personally participated in the sporting activities and noted that there had always been driven game shooting on their land. The survey suggests that the uptake of conservation strategies on shoot farms is higher than on farms not supporting a shoot because landowners must see the need of these conservation measures to enhance gamebird survival. Many of these practices will also benefit other farm wildlife. Despite more than a decade of post-productivism in farming, this survey found that participation in less intensive farming strategies is positively influenced by the presence of driven game shooting on the farm. Land management for game has implications for future rural land use decisions and the continuation of farm conservation policies that look towards a more sustainable management of agriculture.