A Question of Balance: Game animals and their role in the British countryside - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1901369056 ISBN 13: 9781901369052

Publisher: Game Conservancy Trust, 1999

Synopsis

Game animals form a spectacular part of Britain's wildlife heritage. Predators of game, too, are exciting species, and the relationship between them and their prey has shifted as the complex web of species and habitats has changed. Man has been involved in this web for thousands of years, both by hunting game, and often attempting to reduce the numbers of predators which compete with him for a game harvest. In the Victorian era, at a time when countryside habitats were benign, a nation-wide infrastructure of gamekeepers brought with it intense predator control. This resulted in a heyday for many gamebird species, whose stocks since then have dwindled to such an extent that several are now the subject of Biodiversity Action Plans.

A Question of Balance addresses predator/prey relationships and puts forward a modern approach for game management. It sets out conservation plans that allow game to continue to be harvested from the British countryside following a philosophy of Conservation through Wise Use. At the same time it cherishes, and, in some cases, seeks to enhance the existing status of game predators too.

This volume is a serious contribution to the management of wildlife into the next century. It is produced by an organisation dedicated to basing its conservation ideas on thoroughly researched science. Aided by well-presented maps and figures and stunning illustration, the book explains the issues in a lucid narrative style, and will appeal to all those with an interest in the well being of the countryside.

About this title

Review

"This beautifully produced book contains over 110 colour photographs and should receive critical acclaim for its presentation, timeliness and purpose." -- Hampshire Life August 1999

"This week, the GCT publishes a beautifully illustrated book on game animals and their role in the British countryside. A Question of Balance (to which I contributed some editing comments). It contains good sense learnt from years of experiments. How is that the GCT has done more to understand songbird decline and other phenomena than government agencies and the RSPB? Perhaps because, when spending its money, the GCT puts research before self-promotion."END -- Matt Ridley The Daily Telegraph 28 June 1999

Edition details

• Publisher: Game Conservancy Trust
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1901369056
• ISBN 13: 9781901369052
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288
• Editor: Tapper Stephen C.