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You know how to trigger me, don't you?
Monoculture is bad, clearly, and leads to large swathes of land that is impoverished with wildlife. But shooting estates are equally bad as they encourage one species over all others, which has a devastating effect on biodiversity. Over 40 million pheasants are released into the UK countryside every year and any animal that is deemed a potential predator is shot, trapped or poisoned to ensure that there are enough pheasants left for the uber-rich* to shoot.
In Wales, Scotland and the Pennines huge swathes of uplands have been stripped clean of any biodiversity either by grazing sheep or deer, or to allow grouse to flourish, the latter two again providing entertainment for the uber-rich.
*my dad goes beating on a local estate, a day's pheasant shooting for a party of eight costs approx £25k, that is not something for anyone of average means.
andyp-
You know how to trigger me, don't you?
at least someone does
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trigger
Most droll
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£25k straight into the rural economy..
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cunts
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a day's pheasant shooting for a party of eight costs approx £25k
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I can't speak for the upland moors, there isn't one within 100s of miles from Sussex. The commercial shooting estates have a fair bit to answer for as they are the ones which have a monoculture of pheasants and are the ones with massive fees for shooting them. A high percentage of the shoots around here are run by the local farmers and the cost of an entire season is under £1k, or half a pair of posh carbon wheels. They are all crossed by footpaths giving the same access as any other farmland. I know at least two local shoots where it is expressly against the rules to shoot foxes. It is against the law to shoot or persecute raptors. Luckily wild birds can't read the pheasants only signs and do pretty well on pheasant food.
amey
mashton
hurricane_run
Thrasher
Greenbank
ColinTheBald
Inheritance makes you entirely blameless, whatcha got to flog geez?
I would cheerfully disagree with @Aroogah and @andyp. I went to school in Norfolk and the only break to the wheat, pesticide and barbed wire monoculture were the shooting estates with their woods, game crops and hedgerows. Guess where the wildlife lived. I have lived in the wilds of Sussex since 1987, almost everyone involved in shooting is disturbingly normal and of average means. It's probably a bloody sight cheaper than, say, cycling.