Historic village torn apart by bird shooting conflict

Martin Shipton

An historic village associated with Owain Glyndŵr has been torn apart by a significant increase in commercial pheasant shooting that has set neighbour against neighbour.

Pennal lies in the southernmost part of Eryri National Park, four miles west of Machynlleth.

Cambrian Birds, which organises shoots at six locations in mid Wales and Herefordshire and whose registered office is in Cheltenham, has recently increased its activity in and around Pennal.

Bullying and harassment

Results of a residents’ survey released to Nation.Cymru reveal allegations of bullying and harassment of those who oppose the shooting.

One comment said: “Disharmony and division within our once peaceful village. Most people I speak to in the village hate what’s happening but are afraid to publicly voice their concerns for fear of retribution or escalating the division further. These fears are evident in that a local lady in her seventies living alone has now had two healthy looking but dead foxes put in her garden with loud bangs on her windows in the night. Police were informed, but little action.”

Other comments include:

No consultation with village residents before village taken over by large commercial shoot. Acts of intimidation towards people who speak up, shooting across gardens late at night, dead foxes dumped on one person’s land, verbal abuse from gamekeepers, persecution of predators, which have increased due to sheer number of pheasants.

I was upset when moving here that there seemed to be an us and them atmosphere in the village. Several residents asked me to declare whether I was with or against the shooting. One person even told me who I should talk to and who not. It seemed to dominate any conversations on property. Some people around me are trying to move away. Not sure if this is just coincidence. Not sure about value, but this could impact me.

I am so relieved that someone has offered this opportunity to villages to express their concerns. Thank you. There has been no villager consultation nor impact assessment about these activities. And worse still, is that any information leaflets about the devastating effect on the wildlife and environment placed on the village notice board are promptly torn down. Notices of village green meetings, again, torn down whilst adverts for commercial shooting notices remain in place. Censorship of our community.

Shooting takes place too near properties, making some people anxious and on edge as it can be noisy for hours with the guns and dogs barking.

It is important that people are listened to to avoid division and we request a public consultation with everyone before licences are renewed.

The sound of shooting is depressing. Shooting live reared pheasants for sport is a barbaric activity. It has none of the skill of a hunt or the purpose of one for the pot. Taking life in this way is very upsetting, and the constant sound of this happening, wearing. Removing the sound without removing the activity wouldn’t solve the problem, though. I really would like to see pheasant shooting stopped.

I am pleased there is often a semblance of a managed convoy minimizing the disruption of the shooters. I would be even happier if the last person could give the thumbs up as they pass or the first to say 10 today. For me, this is only a part of the problem. Noisy quad buggies and vehicles pass regularly through most of the year, including early and late in the day. Often, they are driving too fast for the nature of the road.

My biggest concern of all is the impact on the environment. Pheasants are eating what the wild bird should eat. Wild birds have access to pheasant food, enhancing the risk of the spread of disease. Large numbers of pheasants will have an effect on the ecology, the vegetation, and potentially water courses. They will also attract predators and so affect their numbers further affecting the ecological balance. I would be interested to know what impact assessments were carried out before the shooting and how this is being monitored. Can this be publicly shared, please?

Pollution in the streams as birds bred close to wade swamp and faeces pollute streams to waterways and feces pollute streams.

Concern around the spread of bird flu as pheasants are unregistered and unregulated.

Reduction in housemartins, fish, songbirds, butterflies, increase in rodents.

Noticeable increase in traffic through the village, eg 10 vehicles four to five times every day, six days a week during the shooting season. Concern around quads speeding, and CWRTS passing the school around 3.30 at speed.

Wing mirror and windscreens hit by pheasants. Major safety concerns due to number of birds on the road and swerving and breaking suddenly to avoid them.

We have been astounded that these activities are taking place in our village in a national park, in a biosphere, on and around the coastal footpath.

Economy

However, some residents back the increase in shooting. One wrote: “The countryside is a great place to live, but a difficult place to make a living. The economy is fragile, and any help or extra finances is a great bonus. Cambrian birds pays a decent rent to the hill farmers of Penall, helping in many cases, young families to stay and work the land. Young families move into the area, helping the local school. Clients use the local pub for food and accommodation, which helps to keep the village alive.

“I and all my family are Pennal born and bred, and it winds me up terribly that incomers want to change our way of life and also tell us what we can and can’t do. If all the anti shooting brigades in the village don’t like what we do in the countryside, maybe they should move back to where they came from. It’s a bit like buying a house next door to a pub and then complaining about the noise of throwing out time. Just remember that game shooting is not illegal. If the anti shooting brigade were to be successful in stopping the shoot, has any thought been given to the loss of earnings to locals? Maybe the anti shooting movement would like to cover the loss.”

Another stated: “I’ve lived in the countryside all my life and feel sad when many people move into the area and try and change the way of life. If people are not happy here, perhaps they should consider moving back to wherever they have come from.”

Survey results

A statistical breakdown of the survey results shows that 50 respondents believe there has been an increase in pheasants over the last three years with 3 disagreeing.

Asked whether the shoot was positive or detrimental to villagers, 12 said positive and 29 detrimental.

Some 38 had problems with pheasants on the road, while 15 said they hadn’t.

Asked whether they had concerns about bird flu, 40 said yes and 12 no.

Some 32 had noticed a change in wildlife, while 12 hadn’t.

On its website, Cambrian Birds states: “Cambrian Sporting is widely regarded as the finest driven pheasant and partridge shoot in the UK.”

We asked Cambrian Birds to respond, but the company did not do so.

Welsh history

Pennal played a significant role in medieval Welsh history because in 1406, during the 14-year rebellion he waged against English rule, Owain Glyndŵr was in the village when he wrote a letter in Latin to the King of France, setting out his vision for an independent Wales.

The Pennal Letter is regarded as unique as the only surviving written documentation detailing secular and religious policies for a potential independent Wales in the Middle Ages.

In the letter, Owain pledged obedience to Antipope Benedict XIII of Avignon, supported by Charles VI during the Avignon Papacy, as opposed to the Province of Canterbury and Pope Innocent VII, the pope in Rome, who was supported by English King Henry IV.

He describes the English government as “the barbarous Saxons, who usurped to themselves the land of Wales” and calls for Pope Benedict XIII to try and punish Henry IV as a heretic for the burning of many church buildings and the execution of members of the Welsh church.