Defra has launched a consultation on its proposals to change the seasons of a number of birds currently on the quarry list or general licence. Whilst some of the proposed changes are based in sound science and are perfectly justifiable, Defra has also included proposals which directly contradict Natural England advice and the available scientific evidence and one that is based on a clear and gross misinterpretation of data. 

The Countryside Alliance will be responding to the consultation and all members and supporters are encouraged to do likewise. Our recommended responses can be read here, along with information on how to respond. The consultation will close at midnight on 17 May 2026.

Our overriding response to this consultation is that measures to amend legislation to partially or fully close shooting seasons for these bird species is unnecessary and a waste of government time. This is due to the effective and sufficient voluntary restraint of shooters in complying with self-regulatory, sustainable shooting guidelines.

The variance in approach and recommendations from the government and the three statutory bodies, Natural Resources Wales, NatureScot and Natural England, is stark. NatureScot has taken a pragmatic approach that relies on robust scientific evidence and has not made wholly unjustifiable recommendations. Although unnecessary due to voluntary restraint by shooters, NatureScot has recommended an extension of the close season for woodcock to 14 November, in keeping with known migration patterns. In England and Wales, however, the recommendation is for the close season to be extended to 30 November, which goes beyond the mainstream understanding of migration patterns, which suggests that almost all migrants arrive before mid-November.

These questionable proposals are paltry in comparison to the UK government’s proposal to end all pintail shooting in England, and the Welsh government’s proposal to end all snipe shooting in Wales.

For pintail in England, Natural England recommended to the UK government that the current shooting season should be maintained unchanged based on its scientific assessment on the negligible impact of shooting upon any pintail populations. However, in an astonishing move, the UK government has brazenly dismissed this recommendation out of hand. In recent years Chris Packham’s Wild Justice has threatened Defra with legal action over ignoring Natural England’s advice on several other issues, although it is doubtful that they will pursue the same course of action on this issue.

Instead of accepting Natural England’s recommendations, the UK government “recognises an alternative view” that pintail should be removed from the quarry list in England in order to protect the miniscule anomalous breeding population of pintail in England (numbering fewer than 20 individual birds scattered across the nation). It should be noted that pintail has always been considered to be a highly migratory species with tens of thousands of individuals overwintering in the UK and breeding in mainland Europe and western Russia.

The incredulity continues with the Welsh government’s proposals to end all snipe shooting in Wales. The key reasoning for the blanket ban is to protect the 1,100 pairs of breeding snipe in Wales. However, when the full rationale document is examined, it is clear that there is a serious misconception of the overall population snipe in Wales. The official document states that “c. 2,000” snipe overwinter in Wales - an alarmingly ludicrous fallacy. Tim Bonner, Chief Executive of the Countryside Alliance said:

“I have seen a thousand snipe in a single field in Wales, a statistical error of this magnitude in an official assessment by the government is very concerning indeed.”

It appears that the Welsh government has conflated the British Trust for Ornithology’s annual count across a selection of wetland sites as equivalent to the total population of snipe in all of Wales. Just like for woodcock, almost all snipe shot in Wales are from the stable and large migratory population, not from the smaller resident population.

This begs the question - is this government committed to evidence-based policy making, or is it driven by an unscientific, anti-shooting agenda? In light of these proposals and last week’s bombshell that the government is to consider licensing all gamebird release as part of its new Land Use Framework, doubt (or worse) is cast on then Labour shadow Defra secretary, Steve Reed MP’s words before the last general election: “Labour supports the rights for shooting as long as it’s done within the law. Why wouldn’t we?”

The question we are now asking in face of this post-election U-turn is “why don’t you?”

The silver lining of this legislative cumulonimbus is the proposed creation of a close season for woodpigeon, which the Alliance has welcomed. Far from limiting the control of woodpigeon, it will mean that woodpigeon can be shot for meat and recreation in their open season as well as for crop protection all year round under the general licence, which will not be removed.

A summary of the changes can be seen in this table: