Autumn: The Killing Season

Green Bank — not very green on this first day of so-called meteorological autumn. The almanac though insists that autumn does not officially begin for another three weeks, though nature is already ahead of schedule. The harvest is in, or at least half of it, since some yields are reported at a dismal fifty per cent. Mornings arrive with a chill, dew-draped webs decorate the bushes, and trees are shifting from green to the colour of old cardboard. Folk are foraging in hedgerows for blackberries, and the days are shrinking with the enthusiasm of a deflating balloon.

We are told this summer is likely to be the warmest ever. A few showers, even today’s downpour, have barely made a dent. Fires still smoulder beneath the moors like dry rot in the floorboards, ready to flare up at the slightest chance. The ground remains parched, and no amount of drizzle will disguise the fact.

Meanwhile, the first of September opens the grand carnival of partridge shooting¹Shooting seasons. BASC. https://basc.org.uk/shooting-seasons/[Accessed 1 Sept 2025]. Red-legged partridge make up around twenty per cent of the forty to sixty million non-native, factory-farmed birds dumped into the countryside each year so that armed hobbyists can indulge in what they call “sport.” Golden plover, coot, moorhen, ducks, and geese also find themselves on the kill list, should the gunmen tire of partridge²How many gamebirds are released in the UK per year? – What the Science Says https://www.whatthesciencesays.org/how-many-gamebirds-are-released-in-the-uk-per-year/ [Accessed 1 Sept 2025].

And do not worry, the annual slaughter will gather pace next month with the great pheasant release, a vast airborne target practice arranged at scale.

Still, a whisper of good news circulates: two large estates hereabouts may be abandoning pheasant shoots for environmental reasons. Whether this proves to be noble sacrifice or mere village gossip remains to be seen.

• 1
  Shooting seasons. BASC. https://basc.org.uk/shooting-seasons/[Accessed 1 Sept 2025]
• 2
  How many gamebirds are released in the UK per year? – What the Science Says https://www.whatthesciencesays.org/how-many-gamebirds-are-released-in-the-uk-per-year/ [Accessed 1 Sept 2025]