Will the curlew cease to call?

This delightful wader, now a red-listed species, is disappearing from our shores. What must be done to halt this decline?

- IAN COGHILL

The shooting community labours under a profound misapprehension. It is widely, and not unreasonably, believed that if we can demonstrate that estates managed for shooting are rich in biodiversity, provide safe havens for rare birds and other wildlife and they protect beautiful landscapes, the RSPB will be delighted and tell the world that we are good boys and girls who should be treated as the dedicated conservationists we undoubtedly are. But nothing could be further from the truth. Based on long, personal experience, I believe that it would be difficult to find anything that annoys the RSPB strategists more than the news that a properly managed shooting estate is an exemplar of good conservation practice.

The reason for this is simple: they rely for their funding on the public believing that without them the UK’s wildlife is going to hell in a hand cart. That they, and they alone, know how to fix things, and if they are only given enough money all will be well. There is nothing they cannot fix. If that is the way you raise the £140 million you need to run your organisation, in the manner to which it has become accustomed, the last thing you need is some ghastly shooters achieving far better results, funded out of their own pockets.