BBC Radio 4’s Farming Today programme (aired yesterday, 14 August 2025) included an extended feature on the current row about the release of gamebirds (Pheasants & Red-legged Partridges) on or near protected areas during national concern over Avian Flu outbreaks.
As many of you will know, Defra sensibly withdrew General Licence 45 in March this year – this is the licence under which restricted numbers of gamebirds (Pheasants and Red-legged Partridges) can be released on or within 500m of Special Protection Areas – which was withdrawn due to Defra’s legitimate concerns about the spread of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI).
Instead of being able to use GL45 this year, Natural England said that gamebird shoots could apply for individual licences to release gamebirds on or close to SPAs, but that only some licences would be permitted and only with a delayed release date for the poults, whereas licences for many other SPAs would be unlikely to be issued at all.
On yesterday’s Farming Today programme, Hugh Carter, Chairman and Director of the Bulford & Tidworth Garrison shoot, whose licence application to release gamebirds on Salisbury Plain this year has been refused by Natural England, argued that the decision means the shoot is at risk of closure.
Interestingly, the same argument was used by the same shoot two years ago when its licence application to release who-knows-how-many thousands of non-native gamebirds was also refused (see here).
Also on the programme was Katie-Jo Luxton, Global Conservation Director at the RSPB, who made the case for all gamebird releases to be licensed, not just those on or close to protected areas, and she made the point that the current restrictions don’t include the release of Mallards for shooting, of which there’s a rough estimation of 2.5 million released each year. Katie-Jo argued that Mallards probably pose an even higher risk of transmitting Bird Flu than Pheasants and Red-legged Partridges so should also be restricted from being released on or close to protected areas during the current outbreaks of HPAI.
Marnie Lovejoy, Deputy Director of Conservation at BASC was also interviewed, and she argued that the restrictions on the releasing of gamebirds should be lifted because “biosecurity is taken very seriously on game farms and game shoots“.
I’m not sure on what evidence she is basing this assertion, given that shooting estates are failing to declare millions of Pheasants that are bred, reared and released in to the countryside (see here).
Even if Marnie’s claim is true, biosecurity measures didn’t prevent an outbreak of HPAI at a game bird breeding facility in North Yorkshire in March this year (here) and nor did it prevent an outbreak on a Pheasant shoot in Exmoor National Park in July this year (here).
And when asked by presenter Charlotte Smith about the risk of making the Bird Flu outbreak situation worse by releasing thousands/millions of gamebirds, Marnie’s response was to argue that there are always risks posed by ‘almost any countryside activity‘ including ‘walking your dogs in the countryside‘ and ‘having visitors on bird reserves‘.
I’m not sure that these are comparable levels of risk!
Farming Today episode can be heard here (starts at 04.36) and is available for the next 28 days.
UPDATE 21 August 2025: Defra announces additional biosecurity measures for gamebird releases amidst heightened risk of Avian Influenza (here)
Raptor Persecution UK 
I recently questioned the advisability of the imminent mass release of pheasants by the glanusk estate with NRW’s Avian Flu section as there didn’t appear to be any bio-security measures in place. Still waiting for a response despite prodding. ffliwadarcnc@cyfoethnaturiolcymru.gov.uk if anyone’s interested in contacting them.
Are these people just blind or wilfully blind to the downsides of their activities?
The types are all the same ie. shameless purveyors of BS to justify their mindless destructive hobby
The number of people in the countryside who really do support driven shooting could very well be a lot lower than the huntin’ and shootin’ brigade brigade appear to believe. Their arrogant assertion of their rights must get up an awful lot of noses. Rearing poultry is a job, shooting pheasants is a hobby. If my livelihood was being imperilled by someone’s leisure pursuits, I would be pretty hacked off about it.
what bio-security measures are they referring to?
Biosecurity requirements as per the conditions of General Licences 43 and 45:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/gamebirds-licence-to-release-common-pheasants-or-red-legged-partridges-on-certain-european-sites-or-within-500m-of-their-boundary-gl43/gl43-licence-to-release-common-pheasants-or-red-legged-partridges-on-certain-european-sites-or-within-500m-of-their-boundary
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/gamebirds-licence-to-release-common-pheasants-or-red-legged-partridges-on-specified-special-protection-areas-or-within-500m-of-their-boundary-gl45/gl45-licence-to-release-common-pheasants-or-red-legged-partridges-on-specified-special-protection-areas-or-within-500m-of-their-boundary
Managed shooting estates do not support conservation—anyone with common sense can see that. Releasing millions of non-native game birds into the British countryside every year does not protect wildlife; it increases serious risks, such as the spread of avian influenza. The real question we should be asking is whether it is acceptable to deliberately heighten this risk and release vast numbers of birds, only for them to be used as live targets for sport.
Some, like Katie-Jo Luxton, claim that managed shooting “plays an important role in conservation.” Yet many experts—and indeed the evidence—disagree. Consider what so-called “management” actually involves: the widespread use of lead shot that pollutes soils and waterways for generations; the destruction of natural habitats through burning, cutting, and drainage to maximise grouse numbers; the relentless use of traps and snares to eliminate native predators who might dare to hunt the artificially inflated populations of game birds; and the construction of damaging infrastructure like hill tracks to make shooting easier. And this is only what is legal. On top of that, illegal persecution of protected species—including birds of prey—remains rife.
True conservation does not require artificially breeding, releasing, and then killing millions of birds for fun. Habitats and species can and should be protected without propping up a blood sport industry. As an advanced species, humans should move beyond killing animals for amusement and embrace genuine conservation and the vision of REVIVE—restoring our uplands for nature, climate, and people.
My husband, Robert Lee, receives this – but I am the one who would like to get Raptor Persecution UK! I am still not receiving it! Betty Lee
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