Good news!
Further to Wednesday’s blog about an imminent call for evidence by Defra about the welfare aspects of gamebird breeding, and confusion about whether this would also include gamebird releases and licences to shoot, there is now clarification that the evidence review will consider ALL aspects of gamebird rearing, release and shooting.
Defra Minister Sue Hayman (Baroness Hayman of Ullock, Parliamentary Under-Secretary) issued a written statement about it yesterday, as follows:
GAMEBIRD CALL FOR EVIDENCE
As set out in the Land Use Framework and the Animal Welfare Strategy for England, the Government committed to strengthening the evidence base on gamebird rearing, release and shooting in England.
I am today announcing that a Call for Evidence will launch on 4 September 2026 as the next step in delivering that commitment.
Gamebird rearing, release and shooting are established activities within rural land use and management. They can contribute to rural economies and land management, but their environmental, animal health, animal welfare and wider impacts are not yet fully understood. The Call for Evidence will gather information and evidence to improve understanding of both the positive and negative impacts associated with these activities.
The Call for Evidence will consider the rearing of gamebirds, the release of reared birds from captivity, associated shooting and land management activities, and impacts at local, regional and national level. It will seek evidence on biodiversity, protected sites and habitats, biosecurity and disease, bird of prey crime, animal welfare, use of natural resources, and other relevant environmental or social impacts.
Evidence gathered through this exercise will be carefully reviewed, including by independent external reviewers for information on release and shooting. This will support Defra’s understanding of these activities and their impacts and inform any future policy development. No decisions have been taken at this stage on whether to introduce any changes, and any future proposals would be subject to public consultation.
The Call for Evidence will be published on GOV.UK and will be open for responses until 1 November 2026.
ENDS
At the time of writing, the Call for Evidence has not yet been published but is expected later today, so the terms of reference are not yet clear. Defra is hosting a stakeholder webinar this morning to provide further details for those of us likely to participate, and also information about the response process.
I’ll blog more about this when things are clearer.
Raptor Persecution UK 
About time !! I hope they are going to look deeper at the release of gamebirds on the exisiting ecosystem – there are studies published and in press about their effect on common reptiles (local extinctions) and invertebrates.
But my biggest fear is it a smokescreen when the owner of a massive shoot in Yorkshire is on the DEFRA comittee how is that impartial ?
“call for evidence” and “Defra is hosting a stakeholder webinar” are two short phrases that made two questions pop straight into my mind .. 1) In all these years of game birds wreaking havoc in our country has Defra never been interested in an evidence base of this industry? 2) Can I assume that anyone who uses, works in, walks in or is a wildlife recorder in our countryside to be a ‘stakeholder’ in Defra’s webinar?
Walking in a bio-rich patch of chalk grassland in South Downs 5 miles north of Hove in Sussex a few days ago I flushed five female Pheasants into the air. Apart from the immediate shock to me, these birds should not be present in these vital and scarce habitats.
Claire Laila Dines