"All of the red grouse carcasses we obtained in 2024 (the last shooting season of the intended five-year voluntary transition from lead to non-lead shotgun ammunition) from which pellets were recovered had been shot using lead shotgun ammunition." #Ornithology 🌍 #UKBirding - ThreadSky

alexanderlees.bsky.social • 19 days ago

"All of the red grouse carcasses we obtained in 2024 (the last shooting season of the intended five-year voluntary transition from lead to non-lead shotgun ammunition) from which pellets were recovered had been shot using lead shotgun ammunition." #Ornithology 🌍 #UKBirding

Reposted from William (Bill) Sutherland

New paper in Conservation Evidence Journal:
Sampling of red grouse carcasses in Britain indicates no progress during an intended five-year voluntary transition from lead to non-lead shotgun ammunition
conservationevidencejournal.com/reference/pd...

Comments

timberdoodlydoo.bsky.social•18 days ago

wow.

Soon as I got into upland hunting in the US and found out that Steel #7 was available, I went with that. never bought any lead shot. I don't even shoot it out of my black powder guns.

stuartll.bsky.social•18 days ago

Not exact.y testing a cross section of shooting by testing birds that cost £250 a brace to shoot.

stuartll.bsky.social•18 days ago

I will continue to struggle with the sincerity of the lead ban discussion, where it is estimated 100k pa birds in Europe are victims of it, when we're so ambivalent about the 35 million a year that die from cats in UK alone. Is it about birds, or people?

alexanderlees.bsky.social•18 days ago

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13280-019-01159-0 estimate is 1M wildfowl alone which is more detrimental than 35M small passerines. We can and should tackle both problems though. Compliance with lead ban ought to be an easy win for shooting.

stuartll.bsky.social•18 days ago

I don't see the mechanism for ingestion in any location except where it is already banned in UK.

ecoevoenviro.bsky.social•17 days ago

It's not effectively banned over many wetlands where guns shoot pheasant and partridge (I see this all the time) or inland in England where I see widespread lack of compliance. Spots of high compliance inland. Not met a coastal Fowler flouting ban for over 18yrs

stuartll.bsky.social•18 days ago

Worth noting too though Alex, with the exception of the one regarding wetlands and ducks, there is no ban on lead in UK. The 5 year 'voluntary transition' was something BASC put forward, and I still believe to this day it was to legitimatize big bag days. It wasn't agreed upon by anyone.

stuartll.bsky.social•18 days ago

A potential ban is on the horizon though (a ban which would rightly exclude sub .234 rifle ammunition and airgun ammunition), but I think even when that comes in it will be another 5 year transition period.

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