Enjoy the Winter Issue of Keeping the Balance Magazine

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Look out for your copy of the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation flagship members’ magazine, Keeping The Balance, which is published by gamekeepers, for gamekeepers – and for everyone with an interest in game and keepering.

The must-read 64-page Winter issue is packed from cover-to-cover with all the latest news and views from the world of gamekeeping, backed by wide-ranging and in-depth features exploring current trends and developments, both professional and social, in the job.

The Winter 2016 issue of Keeping The Balance (KTB) is currently being posted to the NGO membership of around 15,000. Here is a taste of what’s inside...

• Read what the NGO’s new Chairman Liam Bell, in his first foreword for KtB, has to say about: educating the public on keepering at the BBC Countryfile Live event at Blenheim Palace, the NGO’s input into England’s new snaring code, plus Brexit and the implementation of the Agreement on International Humane Trapping Standards (page 5).

• Why October’s parliamentary debate on driven grouse shooting, which those arguing eloquently for keepering and traditional moorland management won hands down, points to lessons that must be learned (page 7).

• Following on from the successful Judicial Review on buzzard licensing at the High Court, discover how licensing systems in England and Wales can be administered to benefit wildlife and conservation (page 8).

• An overview of the recently published Code of best practice on the use of snares for fox control in England (page 10). What it means for keepers, and why the new code must be followed to the letter. While on page 22, the NGO urges keepers to adopt the Welsh Government’s snaring code or lose the legal right to use fox snares.

• The NGO has secured two seats on the Defra-led technical group to assess whether new traps are fit for purpose prior to being tested for compliance with international trapping standards. Find out how the NGO is ensuring the government listens to keepers’ concerns in advance of the July 2018 implementation deadline (page 13).

• A critique of why the State of Nature report (published by more than 50 organisations involved in nature conservation in the UK) was a huge opportunity missed to turn around the fortunes of many wildlife species (page 16).

• The NGO pledges to inject commonsense into the forthcoming review and public consultation on recreational shooting on the land managed by Natural Resources Wales, the Welsh Government’s statutory environmental adviser (page 22).

• The NGO’s Development Officers on the major role Regional Moorland Groups play in explaining upland keepering to the public (page 25), fighting rural crime in Wiltshire (page 20) and tackling poaching through mutual collaboration (page 21).

• Alex Hogg, the Chairman of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, on tail shortening, the grouse shooting petition, the impact of snaring training and foot packs for fox control (page 27).

• The NGO Deer Branch, a Deer Management Qualification assessment centre, comments on the introduction of electronic candidate portfolios for stalkers and deer managers registering for the DSC2 (page 28).

• KtB’s centre spread (pages 32-33) investigates the cost of bought-in poults, a big factor in the economy of many shoots.

• Vet Mark Elliott is a must read, setting out a health and safety policy for dogs, including simple rules on handling injured dogs and what to carry in a first aid kit (page 35).

• Know your legal stuff? Well, see by taking part in our brain-teasing quiz on wildlife and firearms’ law on page 43.

• Find out the latest from the NGO Educational Trust (page 48). And the Gamekeepers’ Welfare Trust gears up to celebrate its silver anniversary in 2017 (page 51).

• Also inside: why the Purdey Awards for Game and Conservation are a good friend to keepering (page 38), creating a shoot from scratch in Austria for Prince Constantine of Liechtenstein (page 40), Knights Solicitors’ guide to the Wildlife &, Countryside Act (page 44), and David Jones on the joys of the game book (page 46).

... and look out for news of our sponsors (and announcing our newest sponsor, the Essex-based gamedealer Ben Rigby Game Ltd), readers’ letters (see how one member saved more than £2,000 on a new Ford Ranger thanks to the NGO’s deal with Ford), kit tests, product reviews and Christmas books.

Liam Bell, the Chairman of the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation, said: “The Winter 2016 issue of Keeping the Balance is packed from cover-to-cover. It is full of news, features and all sorts of information, serious and light-hearted, making our flagship members’ magazine essential reading for keepers. ”

Notes to Editors

The National Gamekeepers' Organisation represents the gamekeepers of England and Wales. It defends and promotes gamekeeping, gamekeepers and ensures high standards throughout the profession. It was founded in 1997 by a group of gamekeepers who felt that their profession was threatened by public misunderstanding and poor representation. The NGO has around 15,000 members.