Countryside Alliance - love the countryside

Conservationists, landowners and managers face a continuing challenge in ensuring that endangered bird species remain a key part England’s uplands. Whilst the positive stories for some of those species is excellent news, there is understandable concern for those that are doing less well.
As an integral feature of the uplands, grouse moors and their management have played a large part in producing a landscape that is both rich in wildlife and biodiversity. Home to the red grouse, this is a species that is only found in those areas that are dominated by heather moorland, and it is unique to the United Kingdom. Many people do not realise that grouse are truly wild, and that unlike pheasant and partridge its population is not maintained or increased by the release of birds which have been hatched or reared in captivity. Living on the moor all year round, red grouse travel very little during their lives, and their particular vulnerability to predation, disease, weather and loss of suitable habitat makes the preservation of this species both demanding and important.

The Countryside Alliance has welcomed the consultation and the draft code of practice on the welfare of 'gamebirds reared for sporting purposes'. The draft code is the result of several years work by the Defra working group, which included vets, the Game Farmer's Association and animal welfare organisations. The final code is expected to come into force in April 2010. The code reflects the results and findings of research undertaken by the Game and Wildlife Conservancy Trust and the Farm Animal Welfare Council (FAWC), at the request of Defra.

The Telegraph reported this week how a new report has shown how consumption of game dishes has soared as shoppers become more adventurous with their choices. New figures released from TNS Worldpanel confirmed that consumption of game in the UK has risen by 15% in the last year. The research shows that game was eaten in shops, pubs and restaurants on 31.7 million occasions. This is fantastic news for the Countryside Alliance’s Game-to-Eat promotional campaign, now in its 9th year. Game-to-Eat has organised in-store sampling of hot British Gressingham Pheasant in a number of Tesco stores across the country on 19 and 20 November. Click here to view the stores participating in tastings on Thursday 19th November, and here to view those participating on Friday 20th November.You can read the Telegraph article here .

Shoot VAT exemption
Two important articles are available on this subject. One written exclusively for the Alliance by tax expert Julie Butler explains how a significant number of shoots can legitimately qualify for the VAT exemption status. Another written for The Field magazine [July edition] by Tony Ball outlines the ferocious yet unfounded pursuit of his shoot by HMRC. Tony offers some sound advice to complement Julie’s article. Please call us on 0871 919 2300* find out more (calls cost 10p per minute).