UK rural estates reassessing shooting future

Following a significant number of queries from clients worried about what Covid-19 movement restrictions would mean for the 2020 shooting season, we conducted a survey to assess the intentions of shoot owners.

Interestingly, we must have touched a nerve because we had more responses in just a few days than most other client surveys I’ve been involved with.

On the face of it, the results showed that most respondents – subject of course to the restrictions in place come the autumn - were planning to continue their shoots in one shape or another. Only 13% had scrapped all their days already, while 50% hoped to carry on as normal.

So, if possible, business as usual. Well, not quite. As well as the “yes-no” or “tick-box” questions, we also invited those taking the survey to provide some additional comments, and this is where we noticed some intriguing pointers for the future.

A number of respondents said that they were planning to scale back the commercial elements of their shoots and just focus on days for family and friends. A few even said a positive outcome of the pandemic would be if it spelled the end of very high-volume days.

The first one is obviously the financial risk. Preparing for the shooting season is expensive in terms of labour and buying birds, and it’s difficult to insure against things like Covid-19.

Secondly, there is perhaps a growing feeling that smaller, more private shoots are less likely to enflame public opinion. A number of estates with more diversified businesses no longer shoot because of the risk of negative publicity on their other operations.

And finally, and more positively, is that the other opportunities offered by woodland are now more financially exciting than they were previously.

Talking to my rural asset management colleagues, many of the larger commercial shoots were set up when woodland was pretty much a loss-making endeavour for farms and estate. Nice to look at and wander in, but an economic burden.

Now, however, better timber prices, the growth of carbon-offsetting and sequestration, the inexorable rise of the outdoor experiential leisure industry – think Center Parcs, Go-Ape and mountain-biking trails – and other alternative uses are all prompting a rethink.

The realisation during the Covid-19 lockdown that greenspaces are vital for our mental health, and a post-Brexit shift in agricultural support payments towards the delivery of public goods will only add to this trend.

My colleagues in our Farms and Estates team are already reporting that an increasing number of estate buyers are looking beyond traditional purchasing motivations and are interested more in conservation and even rewilding.

The future looks set to be full of opportunities for woodland owners. Look out for the next edition of The Rural Report, due out in June, where we’ll be looking at the subject in more detail.

Please let us know if you’d like a copy of the Shooting Sentiment Survey, request a copy of The Rural Report or advice on how to best realise the potential of your woodlands. Just drop an email to rural@knightfrank.com and somebody will be in touch.