MA Submits Response to Government Consultation on Quarry Species and Shooting Seasons

The Moorland Association has now submitted its response to the Defra, Scottish Government and Welsh Government consultation on proposed changes to Schedule 2.1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.

Thank you to all members who shared views, evidence and practical experience with us. Your input has helped shape a response grounded in the realities of moorland and upland land management.

Download the MA response

The consultation considered proposed changes to the list of wild bird species that may be lawfully shot outside their close seasons. These included proposed restrictions affecting common snipe, woodcock and golden plover, as well as the proposed addition of woodpigeon to Schedule 2.1.

The consultation is important because it could affect not only individual quarry species, but the wider relationship between responsible shooting, land management, conservation delivery and future wildlife licensing policy.

Summary of our response

The MA’s central message is that changes to lawful shooting must be evidence-led, proportionate and clear about whether shooting is actually a material driver of decline.

Where the main pressures on a species are habitat condition, hydrology, predation, disturbance, disease, climate or wider land-use change, those issues should be addressed directly.

Snipe, woodcock and woodpigeon

We opposed further restrictions where the evidence presented did not show that lawful shooting is causing a conservation problem. In particular, we did not support the proposed extension of the common snipe close season in England, nor the removal of common snipe from Schedule 2.1 in Wales. We also did not support the proposed statutory extension of the woodcock close season in England and Wales, arguing instead that existing voluntary restraint should be recognised and built upon.

For woodcock, we highlighted evidence that voluntary restraint is already changing behaviour, including GWCT survey evidence that 89% of respondents do not shoot woodcock before 1 December in England and Wales, and that 53.2% have reduced woodcock bag sizes since 2018.

For snipe, we made clear that the species is relevant to moorland and upland management, but that decisions on harvest sustainability should be considered at the appropriate flyway level, not solely through domestic breeding distribution or local abundance.

We supported, in principle, the addition of woodpigeon to Schedule 2.1 in England and Wales, but only on the basis that general licences for crop protection remain practical, timely and fit for purpose. We made clear that this support should not be read as support for any weakening of crop-protection control.

Our position on predation and licensing

A key part of the MA’s response focused on the need for a workable, lawful and timely licensing system where serious local predation pressure threatens conservation or stock-protection outcomes.

We are not asking for raptors or other protected species to be treated as quarry. We are asking for a lawful, tightly controlled and timely licensing route where evidence shows serious conservation or stock-protection pressure.

For ground-nesting birds such as curlew, lapwing, golden plover and black grouse, the breeding window is short. If intervention is only available after nests have failed or chicks have been lost, it is too late.

The MA therefore asked government to consider a workable General Licence, or equivalent statutory mechanism, for tightly defined conservation and stock-protection purposes. This should be evidence-led, proportionate, transparent and subject to safeguards. It should not be a free-for-all, and it should not be framed as recreational shooting.

In practical terms, we asked government to consider buzzard, red kite, raven and, where locally relevant, certain gull species within such a mechanism. If government does not consider that approach appropriate, then the individual licensing system must be made genuinely usable, timely and transparent.

This is not about undermining protected species. It is about ensuring that conservation policy works in practice, on the ground, and at the right time of year.

Next steps

The MA will continue to engage with government, statutory agencies and partner organisations to press for regulation that supports active land management, responsible shooting, voluntary restraint and practical conservation outcomes.

Thank you again to all members who contributed. Your evidence and experience remain essential in ensuring that policy reflects the realities of managing moorland and upland landscapes.