Pennal environmentalists are calling for regulation of pheasant shooting as thousands are released near the village in hunting season each year.

Pennal in Eryri National Park is popular for pheasant shooting hosted by Cambrian Birds.

Residents last month staged a protest against the sport which they claim turns their village into a “war zone”.

There are currently no regulations necessary in the National Park, and are only required at Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

One protestor who did not want to be named said: “Many in the village hate what’s happening here on ecological grounds and for the negative impact on our peaceful village life.

“We are in the National Park and on the Coastal Path – not somewhere one would expect, nor accept, being turned into a mass shooting venue.

“With so many pheasant chicks being brought into this residential area, the threat of bird flu is also of concern.

“On the last day of the shooting season this year, shooting was taking place close to, and clearly visible from our homes and the school. 

“In light of the recent violence across the UK, the use of guns in a residential area is disturbing and intimidating.

“Cambrian Birds have not contacted nor consulted villagers about their plans for our homes.”

However Gwynedd County Councillor Dewi Owen said the claim of environmental damage needed proof.

“It’s a welcome business for the area.

“It brings employment over winter months and helps the area - the pub in Pennal is used, hotels, B&Bs, so everybody benefits.

“I have met with some who have grievances that they can hear the shooting, but I’ve been there myself during a shoot and not heard anything - usually the shoot is further up the valley.”

According to the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, benefits can include increased songbirds, butterflies and flowering shrubs in woods and cover crops managed for shoots.

Damage can include the killing of mammal predators, illegal killings of birds of prey, use of lead ammunition and burning of peatland.

This topic is currently being debated by Welsh government - in 2020 Natural Resources Wales (NRW) undertook a review of gamebird management practices, involving the public and stakeholders to examine “the environmental and socio-economic effects, the scale and location of gamebird releases”. In 2023 a public consultation on a proposed licencing framework received huge responses.

This resulted in NRW advising the government to create “a proportionate risk-based licensing framework in Wales” for pheasant and partridge releases.

NRW’s proposal acknowledged that whilst “the management activities associated with gamebird releases have the potential to deliver positive outcomes for biodiversity, that at unsustainable levels or in sensitive locations, gamebird releases have the potential to cause environmental harm”, adding there is broad agreement about appropriate measures to reduce and manage negative impacts.

A Welsh Government spokesperson said NRW’s evidence was still being considered.

Cambrian Birds previously said: “The environmental points being raised by them have not been scientifically proven so can only be deemed as a sweeping statement, the social points are opinions rather than fact.”