Gamekeeper's Diary: hatching and rearing gamebirds

Gamekeeping legend Geoff Garrod has already begun work on the coming shooting season. For gamekeepers, preparation gets underway as soon as the previous season is over, controlling predators and building and repairing the release pens. Summer is when he hatches and rears his poults.

This is the second in our series of Keeper's Diary Revisited, where Geoff looks back at DVDs he made with John Pyle 15 years and more ago, to see how the job has changed – and reflects on what will change over the next 20 years.

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Why shoot game birds?
Game is wild, natural and free range, and it is one of the healthiest meats available today. It is low in cholesterol and high in protein. Results from research commissioned by the Game-to-Eat campaign (Leatherhead Food International Research 2006) suggest that there are real health benefits to eating game. Both pheasant and partridge contain high levels of iron, protein, vitamin B(6) and selenium, which helps to protect cells from damage caused by free radicals.
In addition to the nutritional benefits of game, game shooting is worth £2 billion annually to the UK rural economy and supports 74,000 jobs. There are 480,000 (UK government figures) active game shooters in the UK who enjoy bird shooting under the principles of the Code of Good Shooting Practice.
More than 2 million hectares are actively managed for shooting in the UK creating proven (PACEC, 2014) conservation benefits and preserving important habitats for a diverse range of flora and fauna, in particular farmland birds. UK shooting providers spend £5.4 million on cover crop seeds every year and maintain over 25,000ha of wild-bird cover.


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▶ Ensure a humane, clean and quick kill
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