Overview

• King Charles III expressed fury this week after reports of a significant decline in pheasant numbers at his Sandringham estate in Norfolk.
• A long-serving gamekeeper was relieved of duty following the estate’s failure to rear enough birds for the traditional shoot.
• The annual Boxing Day pheasant shoot, a cherished royal tradition, now faces possible cancellation if wild populations do not recover.
• Sandringham’s eco-friendly wild-shooting model bars sourcing birds from commercial breeders, deepening the crisis.
• The pheasant shortfall threatens more than 200 local jobs in gamekeeping and farming tied to estate operations.