An estate that aims to grab a chunk of the ‘Wellness’ market with Mongolian-inspired yurts and yoga classes, North Yorkshire’s Swinton Estate is really all about “Mixed species shooting at its finest”. Buried under ‘Activities’, it says it “offers some of the most extensive and varied shooting in the UK…and provides an exceptional habitat for various species of gamebirds.” That’ll be down to the ‘natural landscape’ of managed moors, of course. The estate is run by Mark Cunliffe-Lester, who was Chair of the shooting lobby group Moorland Association between May 2020 and May 2024. He reminisced in a 2020 article in Yorkshire Life that his “favourite memory was doing walked up shooting days either as a beater or a gun, around the moor edge where you never knew what game might suddenly appear”. Like maybe an unexpected Hen Harrier perhaps? Swinton sits squarely within the raptor persecution hot spot of Nidderdale and regularly features on the renowned Raptor Persecution UK blog, which describes Swinton as “a notorious grouse-shooting estate that has been at the centre of police investigations into confirmed and alleged raptor persecution for years“.
Swinton Estate (N Yorks)
Links to more information
- Protect the Wild: Nidderdale: Raptor Poisoning Capital of UK
- Raptor Persecution UK: Red kite found poisoned on Swinton Estate – North Yorkshire Police refuses to investigate
Credits
Information provided by Rebecca Marshall (thank you). Screenshot considered ‘fair use’.
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Listing is to inform choice only. By listing a business we are not suggesting or implying that the business is acting unlawfully. We are not asking for a boycott of the business. If you wish to contact the business please do so politely. We are a non-violent organisation and making threats, intimidating or harassing individuals is never acceptable under any circumstances and may lead to prosecution.