Thanks for the input Steve, I appreciate what both you and molezak are saying, and quite honestly, if it's legal, then so be it, but when you have all day, from 5 am. right up until midnight to do it, why the heck are these people not starting it until 1.30 AM and 2.30 AM, that's what's getting right up my nose here!

Anyhoo, when I was researching I went for the Wildlife Act and another one, something to do with Game and rabbits are classed as ground game apparently, according to that act. The police did likewise, and the sergeant sent me this extract from it when she replied:

QUOTE "Schedule 7 to the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 provides an exemption to Section 6 of the Ground Game Act 1880 which prohibits the use of firearms on land at night to kill ground game.

SCHEDULE 7
Notwithstanding the provisions of section 6 of the Ground Game Act 1880, it shall not be unlawful for the occupier of any land himself, or one other person authorised by him under section 1 of the Act, to use firearms for the purpose of killing ground game thereon between the expiration of the first hour after sunset and the commencement of the last hour before sunrise if (except where he has the exclusive right) the occupier has the written authority of the other persons entitled to kill and take the ground game on the land." unquote

Now my reckoning here is, even if you ARE the landowner, or that ONE person he has allowed to do the overnight shooting, it still has to stop one hour after sunset and not begin until one hour before sunrise, and that way, I get my sleep!!!

So, it would appear from this Act that when you're popping at rabbits, be it lamping or whatever, then to be doing it within the law, and abiding by this Act, you either have to BE the landowner, or you have to have written permission from them it appears???

Howdy Helen.

Rabbits are not game-hare is.Hares are an oddity though as they're legally classed as game so they cannot be shot on a sunday or shot at night or sold out of season (this does not prevent them from being shot anytime of the year or given away though).

You dont need written permission from the landowner to shoot over their land-verbal will sufice.I just keep the various farmers phone numbers stored in my mobile just incase,but to be honest i've never heard of anyone being asked round here.Regulary i have the Police helicopter fly low overhead and they never take any notice of me.

Time wise-these people might be shift workers and this is the only time they can get a chance to go lamping Helen.Not an ideal time to go i know,but it could be their only chance!

One thing i do find strange though is that you can hear the gunshot.Most lampers use moderated (silenced) rifles so this is curious that your ones dont.

Oh it's loud alright Steve, it actually wakes me up, whereas a hurricane probably wouldn't! It's not a deer rifle though, I've heard those, I know they're much louder, it's just the normal loud shotgun "bang"!

The other week, soon after I'd informed my local officer, I just so happened to be using a very wide footpath which runs right through our village, on the corner of which, is a great big house, which has recently been purchased and renovated, and outside there is a very large, black landrover, and me being me (i.e. nosey!) I just happened to look in as I walked past and noticed the seats in the back, proper shooting seats, and all the other equipment that goes with the shooting, so me being me, when the police stopped in their own landrover the other day when I was walking Zena up the road, I told them about it, because what a coincidence, this big house, just happens to also own a very large, overgrown, neglected field the other side of the footpath, which in turn is right opposite my own house and I told them, THIS is where I hear those loud gunshots!! They were very interested and said he is not allowed to have his vehicle "on show" like that, and ever since that day, I notice the vehicle has now been moved to inside his property on the drive and NO shooting has been heard overnight either! Hmmmmmmmmmmmm Boys will be boys methinks, maybe he was having a bit of an overnight play when he had his mates down from London perhaps???!!!

Yes, I'm a curtain twitcher, not a lot gets past me in this village, but as long as everybody keeps their noses clean all is fine. I've had 4 years of that rowdy music from the pub over the road, I've managed to get that sorted with the licencing officer and it's all been quiet now that they've granted their new licence coz I withdrew my objection, and now I get kept awake by this new noise!!! I don't want to move, I love this village, I love my house and why the heck should I! We're alol entitled to our sleep aren't we???!

I think you might be wrong there Steve about those rabbits and that Act, because I specifically remember it kept having it in brackets about rabbits being "ground game"? Check it out on the Ground Game Act I'm sure I'm right.

I wonder WHY my local police say that they have to be kept informed of ANY overnight shooting then? I'll ask her next time I see her and let you know!

Rabbits are classed as game,but because they are a pest specie-they are then automatically exempt from all restrictions like night time shooting etc.This is what i was trying to explain in a not very good way Helen! Up until last year it was a landowners responsibilty to control rabbits and if they didnt they could be fined.

As for notifying the Police beforehand.I really dont think this would achieve anything to be honest and my copper friend also said you dont legally need to.If you rang them and said you'd seen someone in a field with a gun-they're duty bound to investigate even if that person has already rang in advance.

As for leaving shooting paraphernalia on show in a car.Unless its ammunition or guns-no laws broken there! Logic does say though that you shouldnt really draw attention to what you're doing incase someone takes offence and trashes your car! I've heard of wildfowlers returning to their vehicles and finding them with slashed tyres.

I thought it was illegal now to shoot or otherwise interfere with or kill hares? Shortly before he died, my old boy Hal caught a young leveret out on the set-aside and killed it. We hastily concealed it under a jacket, and brought it home for him to discreetly eat it ... waste not want not ... but I was adamant that hares were protected? Am I wrong?

Hares can be legally shot, and since the ban, they are slaughtered in their thousands.

Well I thought you were right on this?? I'm sure it says it in that Act, that Hares are maybe protected? It's the hares that the police seem to be interested in with that lamping you see.

The Hares provide the "interest" that you are talking about, because it IS illegal to lamp Hares.

Meant to add, there is no closed season for shooting hare either, they can be shot all year round. Now that the ban is in force, farmers dont get the help from those that did control the numbers, therefore farmers want them rid of. They are now shot enmasse.

Lamping goes on regularly up here at night (for foxes and rabbits) (and it keeps me awake too H but probably for different reasons!) and I doubt the gamekeepers have to inform the local bobby about it, as it happens so regularly. This is of course a shooting estate though, so they are only carrying out the duties for which they are employed.

Hares are also shot (although possibly not lamped, if that is illegal).