A Letter To Chris Packham

[@GloriaHoulihan-z4n]

This is a very moving video. I praise your passion. You speak from the heart and deserve a voice. Grow stronger.

[@richardgray7823]

14,332 views and 531 likes, speaks volumes . Definitely a diminishing minority. No wonder the BBC over look this melodrama

[@JamesBond-z9w]

I use this short film to explain to people what we do in the countryside and why. It’s actually changed some minds. Well done to the national gamekeepers organisation, beautifully written and executed.

[@nationalgamekeepersorganis9866]

Thank you, and that is heartening to hear. That is why we make these films.

[@head-keeper]

Beautifully created and put over,. Well done.

[@nationalgamekeepersorganis9866]

Thank you, we have lots of other informative films that need sharing to a wider audience. You can help by sharing to your friends too

[@head-keeper]

@@nationalgamekeepersorganis9866 Already done so, #NGO, #SGA

[@eddie_r5330]

Brilliant little film. Well done 👍

[@stephengamble9388]

Most of the environments Mr Packham is continuously lobbying to protect, and especially the species that live in them, are there because of generations of man management. The only way to protect them for future generations, is to continue to man manage them. As a matter of interest has Mr Packham been in touch? Nice video.

[@tewka2003]

Great video and so well put.

[@Urban_poacher]

totally agree with this well said we need a petition on this

[@musicalboxdiscs]

Excellent, well said.

[@Laughtongang]

Brilliant ,well presented .

[@davidgibson2993]

Well said and very true

[@wildfowleratheart]

Well done my friend deep from the heart and sole of someone passionate not only about the countryside but management the way it should be.

[@bampitony6108]

Well said sir.. 👋👋👋👋

[@ThatBritishHomestead]

This is such a beautiful video! Wow powerful stuff

[@stephenludlow5635]

So very true waiting for Mr Chris Peckhams reply

[@DogmanBarrance]

A beautifully made film which explores the conflicts between human beings and wildlife. And how our opinions vary regarding the natural world. We are the supreme apex predator of planet Earth! We are almost like ‘Gods’ compared to all other life. When another species starts to dominate certain ecosystems and interferes with our selfish human interests, we reach for our guns! Fortunately for us, we’re at the top of the food chain. “Humans messed up the natural order of things in this country millennia ago” A cruel planet! Survival of the fittest! No easy answers to this particular problem, when two human factions are at loggerheads.

[@simondeeley9413]

Wild justice will cause the end of wildlife

[@theotheseaeagle]

Hmmm funny that, gamekeepers and grouse shooting has been linked with the extinction of white tailed eagles and almost wiping out the hen harriers and merlin

[@chrisdickens4268]

Catchy line, having seen what's happened to Chris packham of more people such as yourself could be forthright in your opinions we'll have a much better idea which twats to ostracise

[@lukeharris7672]

​@theotheseaeagle 60% of all hen harrier populations are found on grouse moor. The langholme project found that on a keepered estate, hen harriers thrived, as soon as the keepering stopped, they reduced by over half. Resarch it langholme project. Keepering creates the most amount of biodiversity for a piece of land. Only look at Wales where they stopped grouse shooting, golden plover and curlew disappeared entirely, lapwing reduced by 70%, and as a result if there being less food the predator populations you're hen harrier you're buzzard and red iites reduced massively too.

[@adrianneedham2373]

Absolutely bloody brilliant Well said young man

[@ladysmythe1218]

Sharing on multi social media platforms. 👍🏽

[@nationalgamekeepersorganis9866]

Thank you, that is the key to getting the message out. We have a great story to tell and you are helping us tell it

[@nickdeveson3017]

Very well said

[@garyholliday5169]

Excellent video and thank you for doing so. It just needs to be seen by more people 👍

[@nationalgamekeepersorganis9866]

Thank you, you can help by sharing the film far and wide. We have the true story to tell. Please help us tell it

[@paulwhite7627]

Excellent piece by a man who really does know about moorland and wildlife. Why won't anyone (e.g BBC) listen to those that have real expertise, not just those who are given a media mouthpiece so they can follow their anti countryside agenda?? Let's have this on CountryFile please Tim Davie and thus fulfil your promise to the licence payers when you became DG of the BBC, when you promised no biased broadcasting!!!

[@richardgray7823]

Enough rubbish on TV without adding to it

[@jabiru1232]

@@richardgray7823 your right there is a lot of rubbish on tv, coming from Chris packham and other antis

[@theotheseaeagle]

@@richardgray7823 exactly

[@amharake]

Brilliant, very well done !

[@Mike-yq6jg]

Well said , well written

[@GloriaHoulihan-z4n]

I enjoyed Chris Peckhams introduction to the rugby 🏉 Beautiful

[@callumhepworth-smith6376]

Very well done.... Has there been any reply/response? I think i can guess the answer

[@nationalgamekeepersorganis9866]

None at all

[@barryroberts2196]

So very well put.

[@nationalgamekeepersorganis9866]

Thank you, you can do your bit too by sharing to non-shooting people and any of our other relevant films such as the biodiversity crisis film.

[@statementsticks5308]

What a great video let's hope that Chris and his friends watch and digest..rather than dismiss your great work that you have done in the past..and hope will continue to do in the future.... without the Gamekeepers keeping the balance there's very little hope for the endangered spices and once gone they our countryside will be all the worse for it ...stay strong and keep the faith.. I applaud you 👏.

[@austen-williampoll1463]

Is this a joke?

[@statementsticks5308]

@@austen-williampoll1463 Is what a joke...?

[@theotheseaeagle]

@@austen-williampoll1463 probably, they whine about gulls and crows eating grouse eggs, but if they hadn’t wiped all our birds of prey out then gulls and corvids would be kept in control

[@austen-williampoll1463]

@@theotheseaeagle indeed. Their rare grouse are so precious to them they have meet ups and blow them to bits. But it's the gull that's the issue!

[@jimcook8513]

Thank you and good luck

[@sk1wagon]

Beautiful video. Well said.

[@TessArchiveClearance]

"putting the fate of individual animals ahead of the fate of an entire species" I can't think of any better way to put it.

[@theotheseaeagle]

Gamekeepers have caused the extinction of numerous iconic species in the UK. Hen harriers, white tailed eagles, red kites and so many more. They also nearly eradicated ravens and magpies from the countryside.

[@chrisdickens4268]

​@@theotheseaeagle shhh you! In this country we take what the elite give us and like it!

[@philiptatley8346]

top man.

[@zimzimmer325i]

Only 5k views seriously come on people spread the word send this to people that are not exposed to the truths of the matter. We know this is the case others dont. they hear what Chris Disney packam dribbles about on TV and belive it.

[@nationalgamekeepersorganis9866]

It would be great if all 5k share the film and take a look at our other productions too. We have a great story to tell, let's not keep it a secret, help us tell it

[@tilkaynine7902]

As a grouse keeper, your number one motivation is money, nuff said.

[@ToddB-wk7fe]

Did you watch the video ?

[@tilkaynine7902]

@@ToddB-wk7fe From beginning to end

[@notme6465]

@@tilkaynine7902 of course money is a motivator as it is for everyone otherwise you wouldn't have a device to post an ill thought out comment to this video. When was the last time you went out in the pouring rain or sub zero temperatures to manage land for the benefit (both financial and ecological benefit) of those who enjoy the land and allow already struggling species to survive.

[@tilkaynine7902]

@@notme6465 I'm a farmer!!! Pouring rain & temperature extremes are my daily reality thank you very much. Ill thought out comments are those that try to present grouse shooting as some sort of environmental saviour. It is far from it. Wrapping it in lies is just stupidity.

[@notme6465]

@@tilkaynine7902 Oh I see so its ok for you to make a living from the land and damage the environment (just a sad necessity of commercial farming) but not ok for other people to do the same? I doubt very much you have ever been outside other than in your Berghaus thats made in China and shipped thousands of miles by airplanes.

[@jimbuchanan2704]

This is really a clash of philosophies. Establish a balance in a natural area by controlling predators versus allowing the dynamic processes of nature to restore a natural balance. Grouse moors are far from natural with huge areas containing little biodiversity, overgrazing by sheep, and muirburn. Not to mention persecution of raptors to the point of extinction. I’ve no idea if gulls should be controlled in certain specific areas but it seems like he’s chosen them to further his argument because they’re unpopular. But these vast treeless wastes containing little biodiversity reserved for people to shoot grouse and depopulated of wildcat and virtually any other natural predators are hardly an advert for his views.

[@77willnot]

I'm wondering if you have ever been on a grouse moor in the north of England, your statement that they contain little biodiversity suggests not. I graze sheep on a grouse moor, at one ewe per 3 acres it is not over grazed, and spend a lot of time observing the vast array of flora and fauna. Milburn is a very useful tool for two reasons, firstly burning off patches of old heather (no peat is ever burnt in a cool burn) over varying areas gives a full range of habitats from new shoots sprouting which provides feed for ground nesting birds, to old growth which provides shelter from weather and predators. Secondly it removes fuel loads, that is why rewilded moors are the ones that are at most risk from devastating wild fires (just look what happened in Australia when they banned back burning, which the Aborigines had down for millennia).

[@theotheseaeagle]

@@77willnot the only ground nesting birds that burning heather benefit are grouse. I don’t see any curlews, lapwings or Oystercatchers eating heather

[@77willnot]

@@theotheseaeagle But by burning patches of heather, heather burns are always small areas, it gives the moor a vast range of habitats due to the age of the heather growing, which benefit all ground nesting birds. The numbers are testament to it, in the UK as a whole curlew numbers are in decline, but in the areas where there are grouse moors their numbers are on the increase. I do the same when cutting rushes on my higher ground, cut a small patch each year and move on to another the following year. This diverse habitat is very good for ground nesting birds (but not as good for my sheep, cutting all of the rushes would be best but I don't because farming is more about conservation than profit). Last year I had 55 pairs of curlews nesting, at least 14 pairs of snipe, over 100 oystercatchers, 28 redshank and 9 greenshank, and too many lapwing pairs to count, all on around 100 acres.

[@emmawelsh5336]

I totally agree. He used the word Paradise. The only people who regard these man made environments as paradise are the ones abusing it for profit. The moors are an unnatural environment with little biodiversity. Today I found a huge grouse pen surrounded by traps all full of dead stoats, hedgehogs and various other wild animals. They have dug stink pits, one of them with 4 dead foxes in it. (Natural predators) Just so people can release artificially bred grouse which will be shot to death anyway. I'm sick of these people who take this egotistical sense of pride and personal identity from being a 'countryman' yet are the most stubborn and unwilling when it comes to even thinking about any sort of forward thinking reassessment of the way our out of date 'traditions' are so clearly damaging the ecosystem. We are the vermin not Gulls or Crows. WE ARE and until WE wake up and think very seriously about how we want the countryside to look for our kids it's only going to get worse.

[@generalesdeath5836]

We humans have our place in the circle of life and the hierarchy of wildlife as a predator species. Rules that restrict us from being too greedy or reckless are fine, but saying we should be completely non-interventionist is foolish. We have a part to play and a responsibility to keep nature in balance.

[@ja5837]

Have sent this to GB news, we might get some coverage that the BBC will never give, let's see.

[@bronzeboldyboy]

Cris packam has one interest above all else. That’s himself, if he could get more likes on a topic he is out there promoting himself , not the subject but himself

[@stephenm8133]

As long as everyone who has an interest in the preservation of wildlife remains as polarised as this, then everyone is doomed to fail. Here is a constructive challenge to people who depend on shooting grouse for a living: can any predators be tolerated on a grouse shoot, and if so, how many? If the answer is yes, a very small number of each - how would you respond to the loss of a predator species if a population density-independent factor wiped it out?

[@johngreenshaw3283]

The issue with Chris Packham isn't that he has a worldview that is at odds with the reality of the situation, is the fact that he has a prominent position with the UK national broadcaster the BBC and he should only present a balanced and accurate view in accordance with the BBC charter, unfortunately, he doesn't and like so many on the BBC they no longer represent an unbiased view on anything unless it is a narrative or agenda that the liberal elite want to be promulgated of which Mr Packham is one.

[@theotheseaeagle]

They have already wiped out many birds of prey. I’m sure gulls and corvids are next on their list

[@richardgray7823]

(1) Brian May & Chris Packham: Hen Harriers - KZbin

[@tell000]

well said, alas it will fall on Packams deaf ears..

[@Ingramdumpkiss]

WHen the lapwings and curlews disappear Chris Packham will try and blame it all on farmers and pesticides.

[@theotheseaeagle]

If you care so much about lapwings build more habitats for them

[@neildelaney5199]

Packham,,a clueless amateur, a celebrity millionaire,In my candid opinion a champagne socialist!!

[@stevenconnolly6216]

great film, true passion and hitting the nail on the head

[@simbabradley]

Why, he has not the decency to reply.

[@theotheseaeagle]

I’m sure he has much better things to be getting on with

[@petrmalecek8317]

As someone that grew up in Canada and now lives in the country in Europe I am saddened by the influence of city dwelling people that fetishize animals and ignore the big picture. People that think food comes from a grocery store and who think that without man's intervention "nature will sort itself out" ( to quote this vid) should leave the management of the countryside to those of us that understand it and love it because we live in it.

[@alexcatling8544]

Gulls are massively aggressive birds that are relentless in pursuing their quarry. That aren’t scared of attacking a fully grown adult human yet alone a small defenceless chick.

[@theotheseaeagle]

They aren’t afraid of going after people because people feed them so they lose fear of humans. I’ve seen coots grab herring gulls and kick their heads in or drown them before

[@davidsammels2124]

Well done, let’s see if the BBC would like to show this on spring watch or country file, the amount of vermin around the countryside grows rapidly as keeper numbers fall. Loose a keeper and loose the birds they protect 👏👏

[@richardgray7823]

Loose a keeper and restore nature. Seagulls aren't a problem when raptors are present. The gull problem has been brought on by the 'rent a kill' keepers on intensive grouse rearing estates who prefer a mono culture as it pays the wages

[@jabiru1232]

@@richardgray7823 why don’t you go back to your other comment where the NGO put you in your place if your so knowledgable on this subject I dare you to reply to what they said but you won’t because your wrong and we’re right.

[@richardgray7823]

@@jabiru1232 www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/wildlife-and-the-law/wild-bird-crime/hen-harrier/

[@richardgray7823]

@@jabiru1232 www.theguardian.com/books/2019/oct/02/wuthering-depths-the-bronte-country-graphic-novel-rain-floods-fracking

[@richardgray7823]

@@jabiru1232 bellacaledonia.org.uk/2019/03/27/muirburn-moorland-and-monoculture/

[@lindafunnell7188]

gulls are now coming into my garden taking the food i put out for the nesting birds in my town

[@theotheseaeagle]

Putting putting out food is pretty pointless during the nesting season. By then there’s already enough natural food like insects for the birds to eat that they won’t bother with food left out by humans

[@emmawelsh5336]

it's hilarious that you're annoyed by birds eating your bird food.

[@theotheseaeagle]

@@emmawelsh5336 exactly. Very hypocritical

[@MarkHable]

Where's the footage of birds being blasted out of the sky? Where's the footage of all those dead birds being bulldozed into pits because too many have been killed to be eaten? Where's the footage of those pheasants that do escape decimating our lizard and snake populations? Nature lover? Do me a favour

[@lukeharris7672]

60% of all hen harrier populations are found on grouse moor. The langholme project found that on a keepered estate, hen harriers thrived, as soon as the keepering stopped, they reduced by over half. Resarch it langholme project. Keepering creates the most amount of biodiversity for a piece of land. Only look at Wales where they stopped grouse shooting, golden plover and curlew disappeared entirely, lapwing reduced by 70%, and as a result if there being less food the predator populations you're hen harrier you're buzzard and red iites reduced massively too.

[@rickterry8148]

Very good

[@noelriley6857]

Be interesting to see if you get any response from Mr Packham . Don’t hold you’re breath he’s not interested in the science

[@XtraOrdinar-y]

I love watching Chris Packham’s shows and I agree with a lot of his views but nonetheless there are things that he is completely wrong about. I understand his logic that species that have coexisted for a while but obviously these species are threatened and the natural ecosystem doesn’t work when a species is low in population. Hopefully these species will recover and there’d be no need for predator management but right now there is. I believe he had good intentions but was ignorant to the problems he could cause.

[@robsharp7913]

Great video. We need to forget about trying to convince Packham, it's the general public that need to be educated in the way of the countryside. Our energy would be better spent trying to get videos like this out on a platform where all could view rather than digging out that little prick and giving him the publicity. All the shooting "groups" need to come together and fight as one!!

[@TonyPowell180]

Best not call him little though, lol. I loved every minute of that hearing the truth for once, and not the fantasy lands some still believe in. I guess those armchair conservationists don't get out much, but yet they will trespass everywhere come August the 12th, I'm imagining.

[@robsharp7913]

@@TonyPowell180 I've no doubt Tony. Keep up the good work!!

[@alanthomas8519]

Good letter mate..I think all gulls that stray from the coast should be fare game and on the list..they are just pests like crows magpies and pigeons 👍

[@ivorbexon4030]

You will change his mind. He will let the gulls kill of, all the waders that nest on the moors and blame the shooting estates for it.

[@jamesleegoddard9273]

❤

[@johntaylor38]

You should see what the gamekeepers get up to in northern England, everything except red grouse get shot at and blackhead gulls have there eggs sent to London. Just drive round and see for yourself.

[@simonreynolds9889]

Superbly constructed, shame this will never be show on the TV . Would show the woke luvvies at County file what goes on in the real world.

[@nationalgamekeepersorganis9866]

True but KZbin has a far wider audience then any terrestrial TV platform. You can help by sharing our channel and films

[@martydas6233]

Nature would be thriving again if one species would become extinct; Humans.

[@simonreynolds9889]

Been saying that we need to cut our population for decades, were our own worst enemy, but we won't address the elephant in the room .

[@peterconnan5631]

A beautiful video about a very thorny issue. Here where I live, we have the same problem on a much larger scale. Loxodonta Africana...

[@tomsayles212]

What an amazing piece of documentation of facts and realities, gamekeepers like you have been the custodians and stewards of our truly unique and beautiful landscapes. They have been kept and managed for hundreds of years and have always supported life for both nature and country sports, why do certain people think they have the right to dictate and bully these wonderful custodians about there jobs and way of life. Eduction is the key to this people need to know what would happen if this management was to stop. All the best for the future

[@letmeoffthisplanet6208]

Great video but a narcissist like packham won't listen as he's far to busy listening to the sound of his own voice spouting his rubbish. He's as much to wildlife as fred west was to pacifism.

[@kathmatthews9901]

👏 ....why Chris?...why?

[@bubbajohn8131]

For those with tinnitus the musical racket makes this presentation completely inaudible. Dump the loud music.

[@theotheseaeagle]

Gull populations are certainly at risk in Britain. They are on the red list and their numbers are declining. The current population of herring gulls is 140,000. 140,000 curlews are in the UK. Their populations are literally the exact same number. So by saying gulls are not threatened, your also saying curlew are not threatened which of course is not true

[@ToddB-wk7fe]

Do you know what a gull looks like ?

[@theotheseaeagle]

@@petenikolic5244 I live in the UK, gulls are declining very rapidly, you often see them dead around the coasts from ingesting plastic and poisons. Gulls dangerous? Please tell me your having a laugh. Unless you have a heart condition and you get surprised by one they aren’t dangerous. The only things that are in danger around gulls are things like chihuahuas, which we need less of anyway

[@theotheseaeagle]

@@petenikolic5244 gulls attacking other birds is completely natural, if your too much of a pansy to handle it then don’t watch

[@theotheseaeagle]

@@ToddB-wk7fe what kind of question is that, I see gulls all the time, not as many as there used to be mind you

[@theotheseaeagle]

@@petenikolic5244 also, using lead gets into the ecosystem and kills everything. If you shoot an animal with a lead bullet, the lead pellets leak into the meat and into the surrounding water, killing literally everything that drinks the water or eats the dead gull. So you would be killing 10x more birds by shooting a gull to save one duckling then you would if you let the gull do what comes naturally

[@DuncanMonteith-yv8gx]

Your grouse moor is a totally artificial environment which hasn’t been created for Curlew, as you well know. Why can’t you use your passion and skills to look after a natural environment for hundreds more incredible species that would thrive? And because of a natural balance you wouldn’t need to shoot, trap and poison all those nasty predators, fox, crows, gulls, stoats and raptors, which for someone with such a love of nature must be a horrendous task!

[@nationalgamekeepersorganis9866]

Hi Duncan, You are correct that moorland habitats are not designed to help curlew in particular; they are managed for the benefit of all ground-nesting birds and many other species of both flora and fauna. Hundreds of species do thrive on the moors, which you can see for example if you follow the regional moorland groups on facebook. Reptiles, mammals, ground-nesting bird (not just curlew), raptors and protected flora all benefit from the work land managers do on the moors.

[@nickloughrey9841]

well said ! .............. he has a total lack of understanding of the balance required in nature .................

[@theotheseaeagle]

Humans aren’t part of the balance of nature anymore, especially not in the British isles

[@richardgray7823]

Best way to keep Seagulls off the moors is to let raptors survive , Oh but they kill grouse allegedly as well . Some people are never happy unless its a mono culture of intensive grouse farming

[@nationalgamekeepersorganis9866]

Richard it would be good to see the evidence for that maybe you could post a link? The moors are not a monoculture by any means especially grouse moors. They carry more biodiversity then most nature reserves because of habitat and predator management. If fact it looks like hen harriers have only been successful this breeding season on grouse moors, the nests away from keepered group have been predated on

[@richardgray7823]

@@nationalgamekeepersorganis9866 www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/advice/wildlife-and-the-law/wild-bird-crime/hen-harrier/

[@richardgray7823]

@@nationalgamekeepersorganis9866 www.theguardian.com/books/2019/oct/02/wuthering-depths-the-bronte-country-graphic-novel-rain-floods-fracking

[@nationalgamekeepersorganis9866]

Richard, that link doesn't cover the science of harriers keeping gulls off the moor. In fact it states hen harriers eat small mammals not gulls. What it fails to say is that 75% of BOP will not make it to year two naturally. It also fails to say that in the last three years more if not all fledged hen harriers have come from grouse moors

[@nationalgamekeepersorganis9866]

You should look at this film, Gamekeepers are part of the solution kzbin.info/www/bejne/aYisemVmnJ6tp8k

[@kevinlawrence5727]

do you support hunting foxes ?

[@peterwright9547]

At last we are fighting back with these videos that are showing the truth warts and all.I keep trying to explain to these people the importance of properly managed land.Although I get verbal abuse from these people I will not give up and continue to blow wide open their anti view’s to country sports by giving them factual evidence of the benefit country sports and properly managed ground has on the countryside

[@nationalgamekeepersorganis9866]

Peter, well done and thank you. That is why the NGO have invested in making these film to explain why, what and we do things. We are trying to get our voice out and you can help by sharing the contents to non-shooting people. The NGO have another 20 or so films planned for 2022 as well as our campaign work

[@stephenphillips7036]

I like gulls, foxes and crows but I hate people who kill them for fun. ...ers

[@nationalgamekeepersorganis9866]

Gamekeepers are not killing for fun as you say they are keeping the balance and maintaining bi-diversity through selective control of some species. Bodies such as the RSPB and Woodland Trust cull animals on thier land for the same reason

[@danielturner2195]

What a complete bunch of lies

[@theotheseaeagle]

@florgon this video

[@emmawelsh5336]

@@theotheseaeagle It's so common these days for people to put together a total string of lies alongside an emotive piece of music and try to pass it off as something important.

[@theotheseaeagle]

@@emmawelsh5336 exactly. He also claims in the video that gulls are a “common” species. The current population of herring gulls in the UK is 140,000 individuals. Only 120,000 of them are actually breeding individuals. The curlew populations meanwhile are the exact same as the gulls. So calling herring gulls “common” is like calling curlews “common”. The real reason they want to be able to kill predators isn’t because of curlew and other rare birds, it’s so they can have a monoculture of grouse. It’s ironic how they try and make out that they somehow benefit wildlife when they were the driving factors that caused golden eagles, white tailed eagles and hen harriers to go extinct. They also very nearly wiped out ravens too, yet they are now whining how they can’t shoot corvids

[@i-hseq7635]

@@theotheseaeagle The estimated figures you are quoting are somewhat off, where did you get your data? Black head gulls are around 140,000, Herring gulls similar, Curlew are about 59,000 and only about 30,000 in England so hardly comparable?

[@nickryalls3093]

So the message is before intensively managed grouse moors existed there were no curlew,lapwing, golden plover, dunlin etc because they were all killed by predators?

[@nationalgamekeepersorganis9866]

No, they had more habitat available to them before WW2 after which we saw a change in the agricultural landscape across much of the UK. Grouse moors are one of their last strong holds because of a combination of management techniques and practices. If you take the Welsh uplands as an example, it is very similar to that of upland England but with no grouse shooting so it is not managed the same way or has no management at all. Lapwing, curlew and golden plover are all on the brink of disappearing from the Welsh uplands. They are doing well on English grouse moors. Predation is one of the major factors for the decline in Welsh populations of these species.

[@nickryalls3093]

@@nationalgamekeepersorganis9866 sure there is some truth in this argument but Welsh upland birds have declined due to changes in Upland farming practice and forestation rather than predator pressure. For me part of the problem facing driven grouse shoots and their claims to be protecting rare birds is we have no data of bird numbers pre grouse moors, therefore in my worthless opinion it makes the arguments from both sides impossible to quantify. The only sure way to rectify this would be a long term project of turning a virgin upland moor into a grouse shoot, wildlife counted before and after.

[@nationalgamekeepersorganis9866]

@@nickryalls3093 and that is happening in Wales right now. Most bird numbers are increasing including blackcock and waders. It's early days. Predator management is part of the picture, along with well managed heather, grass and all the other habitat. Land with Gamekeepers is generally more diverse and has more species then that without.

[@nickryalls3093]

@@nationalgamekeepersorganis9866 thank you for your measured and polite replys. Could you point me to information about this new Welsh initiative, genuinely interested.

[@LivingroomTV-me9oz]

I watched this video because I like to check my beliefs are correct, by listening to someone who proclaims the opposite, in case I’m wrong and don’t know it. Thanks for giving me confidence that rewilding IS essential. 😅

[@mrsmith9079]

When will you all get it? He Doesn't Care The whole point of the wild justice legal challenge wasn't to save birds, it was to stop shooting. It accomplished what it set out to do. View his actions through this lens, and all falls into place.

[@chrisrichardson774]

I have lost all respect for Chris Peckham.

[@gordonmoon4492]

Very well written and presented, I live 4 miles from the sea, we have gulls nesting on our office building, they are a pest and a nuisance causing damage to our roof surface and excrementing all over our vehicles, they dive bomb our customers too, we are simply overrun by them. It wont be long before we have lost some of our most precious species to this demon of the skies!

[@theotheseaeagle]

The only thing threatening our precious species is habitat loss. Predation causes very little damage to wildlife and most of our wildlife has evolved to cope with our native predators over millions of years. It’s us that’s the problem, not the gulls or corvids

[@teameliteuk2023]

Chris Packham is as much use as a cat flap on a submarine.

[@BSA-AirRifle-Plinking]

Nicely worded

[@austen-williampoll1463]

What an absolute nonsense

[@austen-williampoll1463]

@florgon Sure. And I bet the grouse want to be shot by Toffs and Tories aswell. Bollocks to the rest of the wildlife that's burnt alive for their pleasure

[@theotheseaeagle]

@florgon not necessarily

[@richardgray7823]

Is this some sort of spoof comedy.

[@grahamedwards9920]

No Richard, I suspect most of us thought you were providing the comedy element.

[@richardgray7823]

@@grahamedwards9920 always a joker in the pack Lol!

[@johnx9318]

Could have been good - without all the boring, indulgent crap.

[@MKChase-uj9vx]

The problem with Chris Packham isn't stright forward. You cannot appeal to him with a letter; he is more akin to an illness that needs to be managed. There is no doubt he cares deeply about nature, but with this comes his hate of anything that harms 'any' part of it; so naturally shooting falls square in the middle of this, (as he sees it). His blindness to the need for intervention isn't total, (he knows for instance that the RSPB carry out predator control), but his personal dislike of the hunting community is so strong that it won't allow him to make any form of concession, or to accept the benefits that fieldsports bring. Added to this is the fact he lives with asperges, which seems to reduce his ability to understand or accept another persons perspective. Unfortunately, as long as he is the BBC's darling, he will have a disproportionately loud voice and as long as this is the case, we as the fieldsports/shooting community need to work together and avoid infighting, (over lead and any other issue). We need to be members of the NGO, of BASC of the Fieldsports Nation etc. We may not agree with every decision that these groups make, but by and large, they support the things we love and are the true knowledge and lobbying force behind the future of the wildlife we care about and the sports we are pationate about.