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Pheasant Shoot as Conservation

Sybil Ruscoe meets Buckingham farmer George Eaton, who has won an award for conservation. She asks how this fits with the fact that he hosts pheasant shoots on his farm.

Sybil Ruscoe meets Buckingham farmer George Eaton. He's recently won an award for Conservation for the work he's done improving habitats for birds and wildlife on his land. But the award is from a gun manufacturer: George also hosts pheasant shoots on his land two or three times a year - so how does that fit with his conservation work?

George says he's always been involved in shooting, hunting and fishing from a young age. He says the shoot provides the incentive and funding he needs to carry out extensive conservation work. He's involved in trials of bird food, including unusual crops sown specifically as year-round feed. He's also improved drainage and wildlife cover on the farm. We hear from the RSPB about which birds are being helped through his efforts.

Sybil also visits the classroom that George has built to host up to 100 school and other visits to the farm, to explain his conservation work in the context of a living, working farm.

Produced in Bristol by Sally Challoner.

Available now

22 minutes

Last on

Sun 11 Jan 2015 06:35

Broadcast

  • Sun 11 Jan 2015 06:35