Wild game bounces back after late spring

Despite this year’s weather conditions, wild birds and ground game seem to have recovered well, raising hopes for a good season ahead

- Matt Cross

The very late spring seems to have set wild game back but not hit numbers in the way snowfall or heavy rain has in previous years.

“There is plenty of wild game about,” Cambridgeshire gamekeeper Ed Coles told Shooting Times. “Ducks were off and running by mid-April. English [grey] partridge pairs are about the same as last season, at least 21 pairs. In some places I’m not seeing partridges, so hopefully they are sitting on their nests; in others I’m seeing them quite a bit but not with any young yet. Fingers crossed, by harvest, I’ll have a mix of early and late broods.