The world of shooting moves slowly. Around the country, there are still people who call the GWCT the Game Conservancy and last season I met an old wildfowler who told me he’s “considering leaving WAGBI” — the Wildfowlers’ Association of Great Britain and Ireland, now BASC.
But there is a new kid on the block, which, since being launched in May 2018, has become a big talking point. The British Game Alliance — run by 31-year-old Tom Adams, formerly director of shooting at GunsOnPegs — operates a certification scheme. It allows shoots and game dealers, which have been through an audit process, to market their products as ‘BGA assured’. The membership fee ranges from £100 for shoots that bag up to a 1,000 birds a season to £1,000 for operations…