Animal rights campaigners have criticised a decision by four Conservative MPs to take part in a pheasant and partridge hunt paid for by the shooting lobby.

Nigel Adams, who was appointed parliamentary under secretary for Wales in November, was one of four Conservative MPs to accept the invitation to shoot at Catton Hall in Derbyshire on 25 September, according to the latest register of members’ interests.

Bill Wiggin, a former shadow Welsh secretary, and Mark Garnier, also attended the shoot, according to the register. A previous update to the register recorded that Jonathan Djanogly, a former parliamentary undersecretary for justice, also attended.

The event, which cost £953 and included a night’s stay in the 18th-country house for Adams, Wiggin and Djanogly, was organised and paid for by the British Association of Shooting and Conservation (BASC). It insists the event was unconnected to its campaign against a proposed ban on pheasant shooting on public land in Wales that was announced by Natural Resources Wales (NRW) four days earlier.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Catton Hall in Derbyshire. The event was organised and paid for by the British Association of Shooting and Conservation. Photograph: Michael Petitjean/Alamy

The BASC has begun legal action, together with the Countryside Alliance and the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation, to try to overturn the ban. It also urging its supporters to lobby Welsh assembly members and the Welsh environment minister, Hannah Blythyn, to try to reverse the decision.

The League Against Cruel Sports and Animal Aid suspects the shooting party event was part of this concerted lobbying campaign against the ban. The BASC insists the subject was not discussed at the shoot.

Adams pointed out that his appointment to the government came after the shoot. He said: “The idea that, back in September, BASC tried to influence me at their event to overturn legislation in my capacity as a minister in the Wales office is ludicrous, given that my appointment to the Wales role was not made until November.”

He added: “It is a matter for the Welsh government and its agencies to decide what it bans or permits on public land in Wales.”

A BASC spokesman said: “We take MPs shooting every year at Catton Hall. We do it to broader shooting’s appeal. This event is normally in December and we moved it forward for a number of practical reasons. The timing was purely coincidental. The issue with Natural Resources Wales issue has been running for about two years. It was not discussed. It didn’t come up and it wasn’t on the agenda.”

Chris Luffingham, the director of campaigns at the League Against Cruel Sports, said: “It is extremely irresponsible for these four MPs to accept a game bird shooting trip from industry lobbyists to an estate where up to 400 pheasants and partridges are offered up each day as feathered targets.



“Game bird shooting is losing public and political confidence because of its poor self-regulation, animal welfare and environmental credentials. Trigger-happy estates are releasing millions of factory-farmed birds into the countryside each year to be shot down for ‘sport’, with many of these animals ending up buried in pits, fly-tipped by the roadside or tossed into an incinerator.”

Fiona Pereira, from Animal Aid, said: “I would imagine that a huge number of people in Wales would find it deeply disturbing that MPs have been gifted shooting trips when public opinion is so set against it. The Welsh minister for the environment and 76% of respondents in Wales have voiced their strong opposition to the killing of birds on Welsh public land.”

She added: “We would urge Natural Resources Wales to stick with its decision to ban the shooting of game birds on public land.”

The BASC spokesman said: “We have put NRW on notice for a judicial review. NRW initially said they were not going to ban pheasant shooting. The day before a board meeting in July the Welsh environment minister, Hannah Blythyn, wrote to them outlining ethical objections to shooting, and the NRW then reversed its decision.”

Blythyn, said: “The decision to stop leasing Welsh government land to pheasant shoots, once the current lease agreements expire, was taken by Natural Resources Wales.

“I welcomed NRW’s decision, as it’s important to take account of wider considerations and public views when considering what happens on the Welsh government estate.”