Shooting company fined £40,000 after pheasants damaged woodland

A field sports company has been fined £40,000 after admitting damaging one of Yorkshire’s most beautiful landscapes by attracting pheasants onto protected woodland for shoots. Yorks Sport Ltd and its director Michael Wood admitted a total of seven offences each at two separate court hearings last year.

The prosecution, brought by Natural England, centred on activities associated with pheasant shooting in Farndale on the North York Moors, a wooded valley renowned for its wild daffodils.

These included constructing a car park, bridges and feeding devices on the land, which is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, without permission from Natural England between 2006 and 2009.

Despite admitting the offences, the company and director mounted a challenge over the extent of the damage.

However, after a lengthy court process Judge Stephen Ashurst issued them with the fine at York Crown Court yesterday after finding the number of pheasants on the land had significantly damaged the woodland.

Natural England regulation director Janette Ward said: “We hope the company will now work with us to manage this special woodland appropriately in the future”.

Yorks Sport and Wood were also ordered to pay costs of £125,000.