Summary review and synthesis: effects on habitats and wildlife of the release and management of pheasants and red‐legged partridges on UK lowland shoots

Abstract

BioOne Complete (complete.BioOne.org) is a full-text database of 200 subscribed and open-access titles in the biological, ecological, and environmental sciences published by nonprofit societies, associations, museums, institutions, and presses.

Annual abundance of common Kestrels (Falco tinnunculus) is negatively associated with second generation anticoagulant rodenticides

“…Broad-leaved woodland was not strongly correlated with other variables (all pairwise correlations: r ≥ 0.58; highest with urban and semiurban), suggesting that there might be higher usage of SGARs in areas with high percentage cover of broad-leaved woodland. The high usage of SGARs near Pheasant release pens (McDonald and Harris 2000), which in England often are situated in broad-leaved woodlands (Sage et al 2020), raises the question of whether the management of Pheasant releases could be a contributing factor to the positive associations between several SGAR prevalence measures and broad-leaved woodland (Fig. 2).…”

How many gamebirds are released in the UK each year?

“…An accurate understanding of the number of birds being released is important. The release of large numbers of birds and their subsequent management is believed to cause a variety of positive and negative ecological impacts on the habitats and wildlife of the UK (reviewed by Madden and Sage 2020;Mason et al 2020;Sage et al 2020). Each year's release introduces a large amount of biomass into the ecosystem (Blackburn and Gaston 2021).…”

“…The direct effects, caused by the birds themselves, are typically bad for habitats and wildlife in the immediate areas where releases happen and might be expected to scale with the numbers of birds released in a rather predictable manner (Sage et al 2005). At high densities, the released birds may exert effects including physical disturbance of soils, altering nutrient levels, changes in floral composition and changes in invertebrate community composition (reviewed in Madden and Sage 2020;Mason et al 2020;Sage et al 2020). The birds disperse from the release pens over the following months, and during this time, they are commonly killed or scavenged by generalist predators including foxes and raptors (Madden et al 2018).…”

“…The carcases provide a nutrient resource, and it has been suggested that they support higher numbers of predators than might naturally be expected (Roos et al 2018). These releases are accompanied by associated effects on habitats and wildlife that are the result of human management motivated by gamebird release, including retaining, planting or managing areas of cover vegetation, the control of predators deemed a threat to the released birds and the provision of supplementary feed (reviewed in Madden and Sage 2020;Mason et al 2020;Sage et al 2020). Unlike direct effects, the relationship between the numbers of birds released and the occurrence or scale of associated effects is not likely to be so straightforward.…”

“…Unlike direct effects, the relationship between the numbers of birds released and the occurrence or scale of associated effects is not likely to be so straightforward. In general, bird release is accompanied by larger areas of woodland being established or maintained, higher levels of predator control and large quantities of supplementary feed that is provided either via hoppers or seed-bearing crops (reviewed in Madden and Sage 2020;Mason et al 2020;Sage et al 2020). In order to better understand the scale of the direct and associated effects accompanying the release of birds for shooting, it is essential to have a reliable figure of the numbers of birds being released.…”