Shooting body calls for restraint during cold snap

THE British Association for Shooting & Conservation (BASC) is calling for voluntary restraint in Scotland during the cold snap.

Britain’s largest shooting organisation highlighted the need for voluntary restraint when hunting ducks, geese, wading birds – including woodcock – coot, and moorhen.

BASC Scotland director Colin Shedden said: “We are fully aware that the current coronavirus restrictions in place over all of mainland Scotland mean that very few people are actually able to shoot just now.

“There are no visiting parties of goose shooters or wildfowlers and no inland shooting is taking place, apart from small-scale rough shooting and pest control.

“However, it is still important that those who are shooting, whether on the foreshore or inland, recognise that frozen ground and water bodies make both feeding and roosting very difficult and birds can lose condition quickly.

“We are therefore calling for restraint to be exercised in the shooting of ducks, geese and waders, including reared mallard and woodcock.”

He added: “The countryside is in greater demand than ever before as the public seek to utilise our green spaces for sport and exercise.

“We are urging all countryside users to minimise disturbance of waterfowl in and around their foreshore and inland habitats while the cold weather continues.”

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