I've been trying to get to the bottom of what's happening to the trend in shooting birds in the Kent estuary area in Cumbria.
I couldn't help but notice I hear less shooting going on over the past few years. Being near the coast,the area was popular for pheasant shooting as well as wildfowling.
Today I met a very keen shooter who has lived in the area all his life.
In his opinion he reckons the old shooters who are dying off are not being replaced by the younger generation. He blames an interest in other pastimes these days and shooting birds isn't one of them.
As we scanned round he pointed out three ex- shooting estates where shooting is no longer carried out. His information about these estates confirmed what I'd been told by another local who is actually an ex-shooter.
We also talked about the most well known convert from shooting to birdwatching,Sir Peter Scott. founder of the WWT. We were looking at one of his favourite places for shooting, the marshes and sands of the Kent estuary . He would often stay in the local hotel,the Ship Inn at Sandside, in his shooting days.
I couldn't help but notice I hear less shooting going on over the past few years. Being near the coast,the area was popular for pheasant shooting as well as wildfowling.
Today I met a very keen shooter who has lived in the area all his life.
In his opinion he reckons the old shooters who are dying off are not being replaced by the younger generation. He blames an interest in other pastimes these days and shooting birds isn't one of them.
As we scanned round he pointed out three ex- shooting estates where shooting is no longer carried out. His information about these estates confirmed what I'd been told by another local who is actually an ex-shooter.
We also talked about the most well known convert from shooting to birdwatching,Sir Peter Scott. founder of the WWT. We were looking at one of his favourite places for shooting, the marshes and sands of the Kent estuary . He would often stay in the local hotel,the Ship Inn at Sandside, in his shooting days.
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