06 Jan 2018 #BiodiversityManifesto – Project of the Month: Grey Partridge and Brown Hare monitoring

Each year at the beginning of the spring, the Hunting Interest Group of Mons invites hunters and other nature lovers to meet for a one-day spring counting. For the 10th edition, the 21 March 2017, around 50 people from different regions answered the call under a cold and grey sky.

The results show 60-90 Grey Partridges and 80-90 Brown Hares per 100 ha. This is a remarkable increase of the populations although there is no game release in the area.

The results find their explanation in the activities undertaken by the Hunting Interest Group of Mons since many years to preserve the species:

1- Offering seeds to volunteers farmers to create corridors that provide the wildlife with food and shelter;
2- Predator control (Fox, Beech marten, Carrion crow and Magpie);
3- Winter feeding (1 distributor /7 ha);
4- Providing with water in dry season and with insects (dung) for the chicks;
5- Creation of a big hunting reserve in the centre of the territory;
6- Informing and encouraging the other hunting societies to do the same;
7- Spring counting to ensure a sustainable hunting.

Contact and sources:
http://www.solitaireardennais.be/press/article_det.php?TimeStamp=1427707586&IS=111

Bernard Colot, Founding Member and 1st elected President of the Hunting Interest Group of Mons
becolot1@hotmail.com