Shooting estates in England are failing to declare millions of Pheasants that are being bred, reared and released in to the countryside.
That’s the finding of new research published yesterday by environmental campaigner and best-selling author Guy Shrubsole (see here for his excellent blog).
According to official statistics that Guy obtained via FoI from the Animal Plant & Health Agency (APHA), only 25.9 million Pheasants are accounted for on the latest ‘Poultry Register’. We know (from the shooting industry itself) that approximately 50 million Pheasants are released annually, which means approximately 20 million Pheasants are currently unaccounted for.
Guy didn’t ask for the equivalent data on Red-legged Partridges or Mallards.
It’s a legal requirement for anyone who keeps 50 or more birds, including Pheasants and Red-legged Partridges, to register with APHA.
Registration is mandatory because it helps APHA to manage the spread of diseases such as Avian Influenza. For example, during disease outbreaks APHA can quickly contact registered keepers to provide information and guidance on biosecurity updates. By knowing where birds are kept, APHA can also implement targeted surveillance and control measures to prevent the spread of diseases, especially Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).
Failure to register with APHA is an offence, but it’s been going on for years. In a Natural England and BASC-commissioned report published in 2020, registration compliance (for Pheasant keepers) was estimated to be less than 25%.
This low level of compliance on registering Pheasants will come as no surprise to anyone who pays attention to the behaviour of the UK gamebird shooting industry. It’s not an industry celebrated for adherence to the law on many issues, including the illegal killing of birds of prey, the illegal setting and use of traps, the illegal possession, storage and use of pesticides and poisons, the illegal burning of deep peat moorland, the illegal use of toxic lead ammunition to kill waterfowl etc etc.
Given the current high risk of Avian Flu in England (another case was reported yesterday nr Yeovil, Somerset (ref AIV 2025/54), and BASC’s idiotic legal challenge against the Government’s restrictions on gamebird releases on or close to Special Protection Areas, restrictions that were imposed specifically to help prevent the spread of HPAI to these important conservation sites (see here for yesterday’s blog on this), this level of non-compliance, with millions of unregistered ‘Ghost Pheasants’ roaming the countryside, could lead to a catastrophic HPAI epidemic as we head into the shooting season.
Raptor Persecution UK 
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It’s the same old same old…what happens in the countryside stays there.
Licensing and stronger penalties for non compliance are the only solutions.Otherwise don’t waste your time, only screaming and shouting will this arrogant bunch of oiks toe the line.
Sad to say.
So the reality is nobody knows how many Pheasants & Game birds are bred & released.
Same as nobody knows how many migratory birds fly in and out of the UK.
They are all a risk…
When you or I say “nobody knows” the numbers of gamebirds reared and released, what we are really saying is that “we the public” (including government departments run by the public’s elected representatives) don’t know the numbers.
It is false to think that the numbers are not known, recorded and studied carefully in many quarters.
The numbers of farmed gamebirds released are certainly known to the persons (keepers ) that put in the practical hard work to release them, and it is certainly known to the Agents, Factors & estate managers who promote the shooting and run the business accounts. Of course Estate X, Y and Z knows how many poults they bought (and of course what they paid for them), also how many died while in release pens, and how many were released and how many were returned (shot). They scrutinise all of this very carefully to establish what margins & profit/loss their business is operating in – and to make business decisions accordingly. Hiring and firing. Buying more or less birds. Building more pens, adding more drives – clearing out predator species that are literally eating into profits.
This is not a slapdash world – it is careful management on the same principles as other businesses involving livestock – with similar moving parts to those business models involving volatile feed prices and mortality in losses to disease and to “vermin”.
The point is that a simple statutory requirement for all shooting businesses to lodge the information they already have with (say) Natural England (& equivalents in rest of UK) would for us (the idiot public always left in the dark) remove the guesswork and at least partly fill the knowledge vacuum of how many are being released and where and how many shot and how they are disposed of.
But the shooting industry don’t want this to happen. They don’t want the public gaze alighting on the industry and for the full facts & figures to be known and discussed.
Likewise with grouse shooting. The pro-DGS industry PR is happy to quote figures about how much money shooting brings to some upland areas, but not to disclose the numbers of grouse that need to be shot in that area to generate that money, nor the numbers of other birds & mammals that need to be killed to generate those numbers of grouse to that make the money.
Industry can’t have it both ways, if they want us to believe that both lowland and upland driven shooting is the economic and conservation backbone of rural Britain – then we need to have the full story & all the numbers to look into it ourselves before it can be believed.
Well said.
I agree that everything you said is right spaghnum (as always) I have no doubt that individual shoots all know their own bird number data …that said however, unless all moors / estates / shoots were networking with each other and sharing the numbers data (which I very much doubt they do) then the overall release number each year would still be unknown.
So, by saying – ‘It is false to think that the numbers are not known, recorded and studied carefully in many quarters’ are you saying that you believe / know that certain heavily involved individuals from ‘their side’ do collect all individual shoot’s bought in / released bird numbers? …so therefore, the overall release numbers are known …somewhere, by someone. (kept by ‘their side’)
Thanks Tim. Sorry if that bit of my comment is unclear. Regards reared game releases – I think there are organisations* and individuals within those organisations who will have very good knowledge and insights of how many are being released, but no – they will not know exactly. They will be able to estimate it to within a couple of millions perhaps, whereas we the public onlookers even with the best research might well be out by ten millions or more. What I meant to make clear is that the information we need is certainly all “known” and is therefore easily “knowable” to us – if only the government had a register of each shooting business and made it law to report the numbers they release (for it is “businesses” that account for 99% of reared game, not lots of Old Bob and his pals releasing small numbers here and there for a couple of rough shooting days – they amount to nothing in comparison). The info we need is all sitting on graphs and excel spreadsheets on the laptops of the estate managers/ agents /factors. They study it constantly as any business manager would. It is in the keepers diaries, notebooks and on the calendar on their wall. i.e. the date they took delivery of x amount of poults, and put y amount in each pen in z wood. And likewise with the game farms, regards the number they have raised, mortality, numbers sold & delivered to each estate – it is all recorded somewhere.
*My opinion, one group of people that would have collected good figures would be those behind “Aim to Sustain” (short-lived and now defunct), but I doubt they would ever voluntarily share their data.
Thank you for explaining again spaghnum, no need to say sorry, I always enjoy reading your knowledgeable comments. No surprise that the shooting industry are breaking another rule (declaring release numbers) they think that they’re a law unto themselves.
Interesting knowledge from you also Keith (top 10 rearing postcodes) and you always provide us the evidence.
Stephen – I have tried multiple times to report illegal breaches of general licence conditions by both gamekeepers and farmers.
The police either have refused to accept a complaint or, at best, after months/years (yes years) of hassle have given the individuals (some with decades of experience) words of advice. I’ve expended more time and money than the culprits!
This industry is out of control and is being allowed to just do as it wants. A complete ban on game and wildfowl shooting is the only way to go.
Thank you Lizzybusy for your hard work over years. You must be one of many, yet no governments take any heed of us. It’s all self-satisfied words.
Your final paragraph – yes, this is a radical problem that requires a radical solution and I despair of the RSPB which might have more impact if they would take serious action to protect birds – as their name implies.
I used to support them, especially in Wales in the days of Roger Lovegrove, but not now.
What on earth are having a pop at the RSPB for? What do you expect them to do? They have NO statutory powers. They regularly provide reports and evidence of illegal activities carried out by the shooting industry criminals and others but it is the police and judiciary who fail to deal with the crimes.
The RSPB’s remit is wildlife – not domestic animals, which pheasants and red-legged partridge are for most of their lives, especially when it suits the shooting industry. They are also non-native and so should not fall within the RSPB’s remit, except to notify the public and the powers that be of the issues surrounding them and their impact on our wildlife, which they do consistently. You would be better off, but equally stupid, to blame the RSPCA, whose remit is domestic animals.
I always suspect that people that come onto these posts to have a dig at the RSPB, whatever they pretend, are shills for the shooting industry, attempting to discredit the one organisation that actually investigates their crimes and provides the evidence for prosecution. It is not their job, or within their remit, to prosecute.
There is a brood of Hen Harriers that have fledged this year, despite the criminal death of parent birds, thanks to the hard work of the RSPB staff. There are huge numbers of species whose numbers are recovering in this country and in other British territories thanks to the hard work of RSPB staff and their nature reserves. Where would Bittern and Marsh Harrier be without the RSPB? So they aren’t perfect? Big deal: tell me who is.
People like you just make me want to vomit.
“I always suspect that people that come onto these posts to have a dig at the RSPB, whatever they pretend, are shills for the shooting industry,…”
I totally reject that, it is a ridiculous statement.
Other than that, thanks for your comment.
Bit harsh on lesleymarian – ‘she makes you want to vomit’ etc etc. She has made enough comments on here to make it very clear that she is not a ‘shill’ of the shooting industry (whatever shill means (haven’t looked it up) sorry for my ignorance – take it – it means somewhat in support of) You weren’t open minded enough to think that lesleymarian ‘s comment may have been with regards to the RSPB’s public stance on Wild Justice’s and others call for a ban on driven grouse shooting, given that she stated she was making reference to Lizzybusy ‘s end paragraph which was clearly about a ban on gamebird + wildfowl shooting. (which despite doing so much good – thanks for pointing that out Simon – the RSPB don’t support a ban on DGS)
Thank you, Tim – I should have made myself clearer, I was referring to the RSPB’s inability to support a ban on DGS.
As a campaigner since the 70s on animal rights and the environment I am quite used to insults – so, end of subject.
…also for what it’s worth, though I think it’s clear you’ll disagree Simon as I’m sure will many others …whether considered wild or not / native or not (well established here + makes no difference to me – not their fault their here) game birds are still birds nonetheless and I feel / think that the RSPB should care about ALL birds in this country. Their title is the Protection of Birds. That said I know the RSPB have enough to deal with and not saying for a second that so much good doesn’t come from them. Anyway, the shooting industry kills as many corvids as they can which I presume licensing would still permit not to mention the situation with raptors, both of which fall into the RSPB’s ‘remit’ as you put it. A degree of PROTECTION to ALL birds in the country surely wouldn’t do them that much harm. I’m sure the majority of their supporters would be in favour of a ban on DGS and if they don’t support non-native birds they should be against the un-regulated release of un-known amounts of millions of them.
I’m sorry to you Ruth for wasting your time if my comments too un-relevant to the article for you to publish.
Good work by Guy Shrubsole to do this research on pheasants. Hopefully he or somebody will do the same for red-legs and mallards. Especially mallards. This is a very grubby and not so little element (growing in fact) wing of the commercial rear-release-shoot industry. There is a long history of the usual sizable estates utilising existing lakes and ponds or creating new ones on which to stuff crate fulls of ducks, feed them out of the back of the motor for a few weeks then in season take money from dickheads who think it is sport to come and shoot them as they fly in confused circles around them above pond. But also there is a recent (last 15yrs or so) trend for lots of small landowners and farmers who happen to have an old pond, a derelict quarry or a disused gravel pit to want to cash in on this. Because you don’t need 1000+ acres on which to have successive drives through woods or cover, as with pheasants. All you need – literally – is enough land to have a small pond or two on it and somewhere for Guns to access it and stand around it to blast away…and hey, ho – a nice bit of farm income diversification is achieved! And if you’re canny then you might have even scored some government money to plant a hedge around the ponds – therefore making it all about “conservation” – at least in the world of double-speak.
Then factor in that wild ducks and wild geese are among the most susceptible to catching and transmitting bird flu…and they are touring around the countryside, looking down to see a pond full of their kin (well, domestically produced ones) chomping up feed in the margins and think “what a good place to go down and have a feed & a mingle”. Thus spreading the disease.
The authorities will not have a clue how many of these stocked ponds there are, or that it is another big wing to the largely unregulated rear & release bird shooting business. Nobody is really following semi-tame duck shooting yet. And the authorities in my opinion do not want to know, because it is just more work that they have no funding (and probably no inclination) to do anything about anyway.
Note this from Guy Shrubsole’s blog on Pheasant rearing in England:
“1. Pheasant rearing – the top 10 postcode areas in July 2025“
No 6 in the list is postcode OX5 with “Rearing for shooting” and “Usual Stock Numbers” of 284,000.
If you examine maps, postcode OX5 fills the space between Blenheim Palace Estate and RSPB Otmoor.
Blenheim Palace Estate is the largest shooting estate in Oxfordshire (12,000 acres), according to Dowleys (https://www.dowleys.co.uk/blog/four-best-private-shoots-oxfordshire#)
https://www.blenheimpalace.com/estate/teams/farming/gamekeeping/
“Game provides some of the leanest and healthiest meat for eating.” Especially when it is laced with toxic lead… They also claim “all game must have an agreed market before release to avoid waste.”
“A modern gamekeeper still protects against poaching, but their principal role is to rear and release game birds such as pheasants, grouse and partridges on the land they manage… Their work also includes looking after the hedgerows and nesting sites on the land and controlling pests and predators such as weasels and foxes.”
“Wildlife management is crucial to the long-term success of our land strategy”
“Management of predators and pests is key, if left uncontrolled our unique ecosystem could be damaged.”
So native predators are being slaughtered in favour of alien Pheasants and Partridges, then?
Clearly, game rearing for the shoot on this scale (284,000) right next to a sensitive wetland nature reserve such as RSPB Otmoor represents a serious threat from disease, if not from criminality.
The following gushing sycophancy is why I finally left the Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust:
https://www.bbowt.org.uk/news/bbowt-partners-blenheim-put-nature-heart-estate
“This wonderful partnership with the Blenheim Estate is a big piece of that wild jigsaw and we’re very excited about the future possibilities for nature. Blenheim is already working hard for nature and climate... Together we can demonstrate how working with nature, not against it, can have huge benefits for wildlife, climate and people” – BBOWT Chief Executive Estelle Bailey.
Estelle received an MBE in the King’s (a famous shooter) Birthday Honours. BBOWT also runs the environmental programme at Windsor Great Park on behalf of the Crown Estate.
Slaughtering native predators and pests is ‘working with nature’, note, and ‘not against it’.