10 Ways To Boost Your Shoot's Conservation Credentials

Ecologist and keen shot Alex Hatton presents some simple ways to make your shoot more attractive to a variety of flora and fauna

- Alex Hatton

There is a little uncertainty about the forthcoming shooting season and what we may or may not be able – financially or otherwise – to do. Here in Wales, we are very much still in lockdown and there were so many jobs I had planned this summer on my woodcock and snipe shoot.

Shoots take years to build up, both for their value as a shoot and for the wildlife that depends and thrives on them. So, if you are unable to shoot this season, or are holding fewer days, perhaps you could use the time to think about ways you can improve your shoot’s value to the environment and to conservation as a whole.

10 Habitat connectivity

This has been a buzzword for many years in the conservation world. Species such as bats and dormice rely on good, intact hedgerows to commute around the countryside and they do not like leaving the shelter of them; a few meters of gappy hedge can stop them. And it is not just animals that require hedgerows to spread – plants need them too. Woodland plants such as wood anemones follow hedgerows and it takes them a long time to spread, often finding it impossible to do so when they come to a gap.

Identify gaps in the hedgerows on your shoot and plug them with whips; it is a relatively cheap exercise but really worthwhile. Hedgerow trees are also disappearing and a simple remedy is to tie a bag or hazard tape around an existing hedgerow plant at regular intervals along with it immediately prior to the hedge being cut and inform the hedge cutter why you have done this. You’ll see a huge difference within a year or two.

9 Provision of roosts