This Evidence Review of the ecological impacts of the recreational hunting of coastal wildfowl (‘wildfowling’) was commissioned by Natural England and part-funded by the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC).
Understanding the role of organised recreational activity in disturbing or causing mortality to wildlife is essential for effective nature recovery, sustainable Protected Area management and proportionate regulatory decision-making. This is particularly relevant for wildfowling – the lawful harvesting of certain wild ducks, geese, rails and waders – as it involves intentional lethal harvest which can raise concerns about its compatibility with nature conservation objectives where this occurs within Protected Areas specially designated for their internationally and nationally significant populations and/or assemblages of wild birds.
To review and assess the available evidence relating to the impacts of wildfowling, simplified systematic literature reviews, along with more bespoke reviews where relevant, were conducted to identify the reported effects of waterbird hunting, in particular the potential impacts of mortality and disturbance on coastal wildfowl.
The Evidence Review is presented in three Parts (see below) alongside an overall Executive Summary. Part I compares the evidence presented in Parts II and III and evaluates its overall strength and relevance to draw overall conclusions. Part II focuses on the published and peer-reviewed literature, along with providing a contextual summary of national bird population trends. Part III identifies and reviews the grey literature and unpublished sources of evidence, provides further contextual information about wildfowling in the UK and evaluates the role of coastal wildfowling mortality on waterbird populations using both the peer-reviewed and grey literature and more novel data.
The Review also highlights key knowledge gaps throughout and makes a number of recommendations for further consideration by Natural England and other stakeholders.