page_title: Hunting and shooting in the United Kingdom
section_title: Field sports and conservation in the United Kingdom
hierarchical_section_title: Hunting and shooting in the United Kingdom / Field sports and conservation in the United Kingdom
caption_attribution_description: English: Game cover crop along Spring Plantation Maize and another species of plant grown as food and cover for partridges and pheasants that are reared in the woods for shooting.
context_page_description: In the United Kingdom, the term hunting with no qualification generally refers to hunting with hounds—normally fox hunting, beagling, stag hunting or minkhunting—whereas shooting is the shooting of game birds. What is called deer hunting elsewhere is deer stalking.
  As of 2012 game shooting and deer stalking are carried on as field sports in Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Hunting with hounds in the traditional manner became unlawful in Scotland in 2002 and in England and Wales in 2005, but continues in certain accepted forms. Traditional foxhunting continues in Northern Ireland. Following a trail rather than a live quarry has subsequently grown in importance in Great Britain, as has hunting foxes with a bird of prey.
  The British Association for Shooting and Conservation says that over a million people a year participate in shooting, including game shooting, clay shooting and target shooting. In 2005 it became unlawful in England and Wales to shoot game birds while they are not in flight, an action which has long been considered unsporting.
  To undertake shooting in the UK a valid firearms licence and insurance is required.
context_section_description: Habitat destruction and fragmentation are major drivers of biodiversity loss in the United Kingdom, however landowners that participate in field sports, particularly hunting and shooting, are more likely to conserve and reinstate woodlands and hedgerows because they are utilized by quarry species. A study in 2003 showed that they are around 2.5-times more likely to plant new woodlands than landowners without game or hunting interests, and also conserve a far greater woodland area. These habitats are essential for the persistence of a wide range of other British wildlife, and consequently it has been suggested that field sports can provide valuable tools for wildlife conservation in the UK, without the need for governmental subsidies or protective legislation.
  Landowners undertake management measures to improve habitats for quarry species, including shrub planting, coppicing and skylighting to encourage understory growth. Roger Draycott of the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust has reported the conservation benefits of game management schemes in the UK, including woodlands that exhibit denser undergrowth and higher abundances of native birds. However, overall evidence that game shooting is beneficial to wider biodiversity has been inconclusive: high densities of game birds are known to negatively impact ecosystems, resulting in shorter grassland vegetation, lower floral diversity in semi-natural woodlands, fewer saplings in hedgerows leading from such woodlands, and possible reductions in arthropod biomass attributable to predation.
  The rearing of both wild and released game birds requires the provision of food and shelter during the winter months, and to achieve this landowners undertake planting of cover crops. Generally species such as maize or quinoa, these are planted in strips alongside arable land. Cover crops are also utilised by a variety of nationally declining farmland birds such as linnets and finches, providing valuable food resources and refuge from predators. One study assessed the response of bird assemblages to the implementation of a multi-dimensional game management system on a farm in Leicestershire, England. It was found that several declining species displayed significant population increases, suggesting that game management strategies may indeed play a major role in the conservation of wildlife in Britain, particularly threatened farmland passerines.
  Prior to the Hunting Act, fox hunting also provided a major incentive for woodland conservation and management throughout England and Wales, with higher species diversity and abundance of plants and butterflies found in woodlands managed for foxes according to a survey of mounted hunts in 2006, verified by The Council of Hunting Associations.
caption: Cover crops such as maize are planted in strips to provide forage and shelter for game birds during the winter months
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