I do get worried by the over-sentimental reaction to hunting. One of the best local reserves, and consequently, one of the best places for birds, insects and some flowers and butterflies, is a privately managed area of preserved fen and carr next to a remnant of council-run chalk pasture which runs down to it. The owner cuts the reed-beds on a 5 year rotation and it is home to marsh harriers and occasional hobby, herons and water voles, deer and a variety of marshland warblers and tits as well as numerous waders and ducks that inhabit the scrapes the owner has created. On one or two occasions a year, he and a couple of friends take their dogs and guns, and walk-through the reeds, where snipe and woodcock, as well as duck can be found.
It is a sustainable harvest from an area that has been improved to support those sorts of birds, but benefits a huge range of wildlife. I have met the owner - he has a deep attachment to the countryside. Not as something that is preserved in aspic, but as a dynamic working environment that can be sustainable and is to be enjoyed by all.
If we had more landowners who are as sympathetic and empathetic to the places they manage, our countryside would be a better place.
N
(I wonder what badger, rabbit
and squirrel stew might taste like, eh Felix?
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)