Welsh Government under fire for failing to implement gamebird regulations amidst heightened risk of bird flu

The RSPB has, justifiably, grown tired of waiting for the Welsh Government to implement regulations on the release of millions of non-native gamebirds (Pheasants and Red-legged Partridges) and wants urgent action to protect native wildlife from the threat of highly pathogenic Avian Influenza (bird flu).

In an article published last week, the RSPB argues that the Welsh Government has ignored the recommendation of its own statutory nature advisor (Natural Resources Wales – NRW) for too long and risks causing damage to protected wildlife and habitats by permitting the continued, unregulated release of gamebirds.

Following legal action by Wild Justice in 2020, Defra added Pheasants and Red-legged Partridges to Schedule 9 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act, which means that these species are recognised as having the potential to cause ecological harm and can now only be released in England under licence.

This decision prompted Welsh Ministers to ask NRW whether there was an issue with gamebird releases in Wales and if so, to consider options for regulation.

In October 2023, after a public consultation that attracted 42,000 responses, NRW provided Ministers with very clear advice (see report below) that both Pheasants and Red-legged Partridges should be added to Schedule 9 of the W&CA so that any future releases in Wales would have to be licensed/regulated.

NRW suggested that if Ministers accepted the advice, a licensing scheme could be up and running by the start of the 2025 shooting season (i.e. now).

Since receiving that advice almost two years ago, Welsh Ministers have sat on their hands and done precisely nothing about it.

Meanwhile, Avian Influenza has been creeping across the UK with catastrophic consequences for not only many wild birds (particularly seabirds and some bird of prey species), but also for poultry farmers and the egg sector, some of whose businesses have been ruined (e.g. see here and here).

The RSPB has uncovered a shocking outbreak of Avian Influenza in May this year, described in last week’s article as follows:

‘In May, two Pheasants tested positive for bird flu in the North Berwyn hills, presumably having been released from a pen. Within weeks bird flu was confirmed in captive gamebirds nearby. We now know, having obtained information under the Environment Information Regulations, that the two reported were from a mass mortality event of around 875 dead Pheasants “in the wild”. The nearby game-rearing facility contained 11,000 Pheasants and 10,000 partridges, following which protection and surveillance zones were declared, which prevented gamebird releases until it was revoked last month.

‘This is extremely concerning because the entire population of Red-listed Black Grouse in Wales is in North Berwyn and the adjacent moorlands, and it’s an important area for breeding Curlews. Bird flu outbreaks in released Pheasants also pose a risk to scavengers including birds of prey. The incidents are close to the Berwyn Special Protection Area, classified for its populations of Hen Harrier, Merlin, Peregrine and Red Kite.

‘In Wales, bird flu cases in released Pheasants don’t trigger disease control zones, meaning if there is an outbreak in released Pheasants, shoots can continue to release birds that could further spread the disease. There is no requirement for shoots to report sick or dead released Pheasants or wild birds, nor to collect carcasses of dead released Pheasants on their land. With no licensing system in place to regulate releases of gamebirds, there is little NRW can do to help protect threatened wildlife‘.

This sounds particularly odd to me. I haven’t seen the EIR documents so can only speculate but the discovery of 875 dead Pheasants in one location, described as being “in the wild”, in May, rings alarm bells.

In my view it seems implausible, or at least highly unusual, that that density of Pheasants would be together in one location, “in the wild”, in May (so supposedly birds that were released the previous summer/autumn for shooting). The only time I’ve ever seen that number of gamebirds together ‘in the wild’ is in the weeks following release from captivity in the summer, prior to the start of the Pheasant-shooting season on 1 October. By May the following year they’ve either been shot, or run over, or have been caught up for breeding, or have dispersed into the wider countryside. I’d be interested to hear if anyone has experienced anything different.

I hope that somebody didn’t remove those diseased 875 birds from a pen, to make them appear to be last year’s ‘released’ birds (and thus defined as ‘wild’), to avoid any subsequent restriction on the movement and/or release of other gamebirds. That would be outrageously irresponsible (and also unlawful).

I hope the RSPB will publish those EIR documents to provide more clarity on the incident.

Whatever did or didn’t happen at that location, it’s clear that outbreaks of Avian Influenza in gamebirds that are left to wander around the countryside present an obvious threat to protected native species and habitats, and that the Welsh Government has had more than enough time to consider NRW’s advice and to take action.

The RSPB is asking members of the public to email the Deputy First Minister of Wales, Huw Irranca-Davies, to urge him to take that action. You don’t need to be a resident of Wales to do this – anybody can do it.

Please send (a polite) email to: Correspondence.Huw.Irranca-Davies@gov.wales asking him to implement NRW’s advice from two years ago and introduce a licensing scheme for gamebird releases.

Please note that his email address starts with the word ‘correspondence’. If you don’t use the address exactly as it’s written above, your email won’t get through.

Thank you.

Media coverage of the RSPB’s article:

BBC News website here

Radio Wales Breakfast here (starts at 38.00 min, available for 23 days)