The shooting season is underway but the role of gamekeepers in conserving many non-gamebirds is not widely understood. Many songbirds and other bird species have dramatically declined in recent decades but a new report shows that where land is managed by gamekeepers many species thrive.
The report 'Singing fields' compiled by Dr Stephen Tapper, director of policy and public affairs with the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (formerly The Game Conservancy Trust), highlights the contribution that gamekeepers have made in protecting many of our most threatened birds from starvation and attack from generalist predators such as foxes, magpies and crows.

'Singing fields' draws on recent research by the Trust's own wildlife biologists as well as other experts and assesses the evidence that shows the species that do and do not benefit from game management activities, such as predator control, habitat creation and feeding techniques.

Dr Tapper explains, "Gamekeepers manage large parts of the countryside for pheasants, partridges and grouse and in so doing, create conditions that benefit other birds too. Game management delivers a very considerable net conservation gain and without this conservation work, carried out by the 3,000 gamekeepers working in our countryside, the prospects for many declining wild bird populations would be much worse."

A 10-year study on the Trust's Allerton Farm project at Loddington provides compelling evidence to support this view and shows how farmland birds benefit from game management. Over the study period habitat improvement and predator control boosted the number of wren (from 47 to 141 pairs), dunnock(46 to 144 pairs), blackbird (66 to 143 pairs) and song thrush (14 to 56pairs). The most noticeable beneficiaries of this regime were the resident seed-eating finches who took advantage of the pheasant feeders and set-aside cover crops. Interestingly, many of these species declined after predator control was stopped in 2002.

In the uplands, gamekeepers burn heather and control crows, foxes and stoats which provide ideal nesting areas for waders. Lapwings are at least twice as common on grouse moors. On the North Pennine moors there are at least 700pairs of golden plover and 3,900 pairs of curlew. Raptors like merlin also thrive and occur at much higher densities on grouse moors than on other moors.

Dr Tapper concludes, "Gamekeepers make an often unappreciated contribution to the richness of bird life in the countryside. Intensive farming and forestry means that wild birds often struggle to find shelter and food in modern crops. Conservation is not just about creating nature reserves. It must also be about economic land use and how this can be made to support increased biodiversity. Game management for pheasants, partridges and grouse is a good example of this as it supports a variety of other species as well."