Wales' Shadow Rural Affairs Minister Visits NGO

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The National Gamekeepers' Organisation North Wales Chairman David Pooler played host to Wales' Shadow Rural Affairs Minister Antoinette Sandbach during her recent visit to his shoot at the Rhug Estate, Corwen, Denbighshire.

Afterwards Ms Sandbach said: "The role of gamekeepers is vital in helping to protect the Welsh countryside and yet is too often over-looked.

“I was most interested to learn from David how caring for game is beneficial to many species of other wildlife, such as ,songbirds, hares, and insects, which help themselves ,to food provided for game birds. Gamekeepers routinely manage extensive areas of habitat specifically for the purpose of nurturing all sorts of wildlife. These places are oases for both game and non-game species.

“Indeed, it is likely that we would have lost many more songbirds from our countryside during the bad spring and winter weather if they hadn't been fed by gamekeepers when looking after their pheasants."

Ms Sandbach, the North Wales Regional Conservative Assembly Member, added: "Gamekeepers also have a vital role to play in conservation when legally controlling predators, such as foxes, magpies and crows. Solid science has shown predator control to help in the conservation of a great many species of wildlife, including songbirds and upland breeding wading birds.

David Pooler, the headkeeper at Rhug, explained during the afternoon-long tour how wildlife conservation benefits from the estate's game and wildlife-friendly woodlands, its game patches and extensive areas of wetland.

Mr Pooler said: "It was a pleasure to have Ms Sandbach and her party as our guests at Rhug. She was very well informed about the importance of game in securing many aspects of the environmental, social and economic wellbeing of the Welsh countryside. I hope the Shadow Rural Affairs Minister enjoyed her visit."

He added: "I wanted to stress that game - from large estates through to small DIY shoots run by a few friends - is so important to the fabric of huge tracts of rural Wales that any impact on gamekeeping should be carefully considered by politicians when deciding on rural policy.

“It is clear there is a richness of wildlife at Rhug - including big numbers of cherished birds like barn owls - that simply wouldn't be present unless it was for the game. Gameshooting is a real rural success story. It needs to be celebrated."

During her visit Ms Sandbach heard that it was well established that many rural businesses in Wales, especially in isolated places, couldn't keep going during the winter months, outside the peak tourist season, without the income from shooting. It is recognized that cash from shooting parties, both from within the UK and abroad, helps sustain many hotels, B&,Bs, and restaurants.

Shooting in Wales supports the equivalent of 2,600 jobs and ,generates up to �80m a year for the Welsh economy. More than one million acres in Wales benefit from conservation activities associated with shooting. Shooting also underpins the equivalent of more than 330 full-time conservation jobs.