Table 2:

Soil lead concentrations in shooting and control areas in the UK

Gunshot source

Soil lead (mg/kg)

(average of 72 mg/kg in principal English topsoil)

Reference

Shooting Site

Control Site

Game shooting wood and

pheasant rearing area

160 (wood)

68 (field)

60 (wood)

44 (field)

Sneddon

et al.

(2009)

Clay pigeon shoot (100-175 m

from stands)

Mean of 3,038

Max. of 8,172

Clements (1997)

Clay pigeon fall out zone on

acid peat bog

Mean of 306

Max. of 15,700

White Young Green Environmental

(2006)

Clay pigeon shoot for 20 years

(80-100 m from stands)

5,000 to 10,600

Mellor and McCartney (1994)

executive summary

. Adriano (1986) provides comprehensive

information on the biogeochemistry and bioavailability of lead

in the terrestrial environment.

In areas of lead ammunition deposition, soil lead concentrations

can be extremely elevated,

e.g.

from a few to hundreds of times

higher than in control soils; some examples from the UK are

given in Table 2. The figures here can be compared with average

soil lead concentration of 72 mg/kg in principal English topsoil

(with English soils in the principal domain, covering 94% of the

area of England, having ‘Normal Background Concentrations’

of up to 180 mg/kg - British Geological Survey, see Ander

et al.

2013). A limited number of studies is available either measuring

lead in water from sites contaminated with lead, or lead in biota

exposed to water contaminated by lead from ammunition (

e.g.

Heier

et al.

2009, Stromseng

et al.

2009). These provide evidence

that in some areas where shooting occurs regularly and/or at

high intensity, and in and possibly close to the gunshot fallout

areas, water lead concentrations can be elevated above those at

control sites. The extent to which such contamination is likely to

affect sites downstream of shooting areas is unknown, but the

likelihood of broader watershed contamination appears low,

and it seems likely that the majority of the water contamination

will be relatively local.

PATHWAYS OF EXPOSURE TO LEAD

FROM AMMUNITION

DIRECT INGESTION OF AMMUNITION-DERIVED LEAD

BY WILD BIRDS (EXPOSURE ROUTE 1)

The first published record of a bird poisoned following lead

gunshot ingestion in the UK was for a pheasant, 139 years ago

(Calvert 1876). Recognition of the direct ingestion of spent

gunshot and subsequent mortality from lead poisoning in

wildfowl and a range of other birds, primarily other waterbirds

and terrestrial birds such as Galliformes, grew throughout the

last century. This pathway of ingestion of lead gunshot has been

extensively documented and reviewed (

e.g.

for global studies

see Bellrose 1959, Franson and Pain 2011, and papers in Pain

1992 and Watson

et al.

2009; for the UK see Olney 1960, 1968,

Owen and Cadbury 1975, Thomas 1975, Thomas 1982, Brown

et al.

1992, Thomas

et al.

2009, Parslow

et al.

1982, Mudge 1983,

Street 1983, Spray andMilne 1988, Butler 2005, Butler

et al.

2005,

Potts 2005, O’Connell

et al.

2008, Newth

et al.

2012). Gunshot

ingestion levels by wildfowl fromUK studies and terrestrial birds

from the UK and elsewhere are summarised in Tables 3 and 4

respectively.

Mateo (2009) provided a summary of historic prevalence of

lead gunshot ingestion in 19 species of wildfowl from Europe

including the UK (15 of which are species of swans, geese and

ducks from northern Europe). Levels of gunshot ingestion

varied among sites and species with an overall combined level

Deborah J. Pain, Ruth Cromie & Rhys E. Green

Available online (see

http://www.nssf.org/ranges/rangeresources/library/detail.cfm?filename=facility_mngmnt

/environment/executive_summary.htm&CAT=

Facility%20Management

)