Releasing gamebirds into the Welsh countryside

Published: 3 Apr 2025
Topic: Gamebird shooting and associated land management.

More than 18 months after Welsh Government received a recommendation from NRW to introduce a licensing system, we ask why Welsh Government has said so little about its plans. 

Five years ago, the RSPB reviewed its policy on gamebird shooting and associated land management. This was based on a detailed review by RSPB scientists, the conclusions of which were similar to other studies published subsequently. 

In 2022, Ministers asked its officials and Natural Resources Wales (NRW) to consider options for regulation of gamebirds in light of concerns raised by the science, especially in places designated as important for wildlife. NRW subsequently undertook a public consultation in March 2023 to which many RSPB supporters responded. NRW’s advice to Welsh Government was published in October 2023 and recommended that any releases should be managed “through a proportionate, risk-based licensing framework”.  

Three years have passed since Ministers initiated the review, more than half of which time the recommendation has been somewhere in Cardiff Bay awaiting a decision. 

In a nutshell, the proposals would make it illegal to introduce Pheasants and Red-legged Partridges without permission. In and around Sites of Special Scientific Interest, NRW would have to be satisfied that damage would not be caused by the gamebirds before granting a licence. Elsewhere, releases would operate under a ‘General Licence’ that would define the maximum numbers of birds released within an area.  

The proposals explain clearly why the current system cannot adequately protect nature. In places designated as important for nature (SSSIs), it is right that human activities should not pose a threat to wildlife. Although the proposals were not as robust as we think they should be, they would go some way to reducing the environmental risks posed by unlimited releases of non-native gamebirds.  

In the three years since the review was announced, an estimated 2.4-6.9 million Pheasants and Red-legged Partridges have been released in Wales, with the consequences outlined by the various studies in a nature and climate emergency. More birds will be released for shooting from July, even though NRW says “that existing regulatory and voluntary measures… are unlikely to be sufficient to satisfactorily manage these risks... We consider that regulation is likely to be the only effective way to improve this situation and to better inform future management.” 

Implementation has already been delayed by 12 months and is at real risk of missing the Government’s revised deadline of having a licensing system in place by the 2025/26 shooting season, which starts in September. A decision and announcement by Welsh Government is needed urgently both to reduce the risks of environmental damage and to honour its commitment to give shoots time to prepare for change.