Driven grouse shooting
Driven grouse shooting is a
The grouse-shooting season begins on 12 August except in the Isle of Man where (were it not for a voluntary ban) it would start on 25 August. It ends on 10 December, except in Northern Ireland (30 November) and the Isle of Man (31 October). 12 August is sometimes called by adherents of the sport the "Glorious Twelfth".
The sport first appeared around 1850 and became fashionable amongst the wealthy in the later Victorian era. The expanding rail network allowed relatively easy access into the remote upland areas of Britain for the first time and driven grouse shooting developed in tandem with this by providing shooting in a convenient and reliable form. Large numbers of birds are driven over a fixed position providing a regular supply of fast moving targets without the need to seek out the birds. The development of the
Shooting takes place on grouse moors: areas of moorland in Scotland, northern England, and Wales. These areas, some 16,763 square kilometres (6,472 sq mi) in extent (about 8% of the combined area of England and Scotland) are managed to provide a beneficial habitat for red grouse.[1] In the period from 1870–1965 the sheep population of Scotland dropped by around 500,000 animals (because of commercial competition from Australia and New Zealand). In consequence, areas of former pastureland were made into deer forests or grouse moors.[2]
Management techniques for grouse moors include heather burning (known as "muirburn" in Scotland), to ensure a supply of both young and old heather, and predator control – principally foxes and predatory birds such as corvids (including
There has been controversy over alleged persecution of raptors on grouse moors. Raptors are protected species in the United Kingdom. Opponents also argue that managed moorland prevents wildness, natural landscapes, forest and bog regeneration, and ecotourism.[4]: 167
Description
Grouse moors have been described as "the ultimate trophy asset... one of the ultimate playthings, for which people will pay well over the asset value."[8]
Grouse shooting can also be undertaken by 'walking up' grouse over
In southern Sweden, this form of hunting is called fjälljakt; the corresponding biome is not managed by burning, but consists of a wooded mosaic, with heather, trees, lakes and bogland.[10] Its management by, in particular, large wild herbivores such as moose maintains this mosaic as a stable condition, with modest populations of grouse (often hidden from predators in willow thickets) and a rich variety of other species.[4]: 171–173
Moorland management
Draining
Large areas of grouse moor were previously blanket bogs, where sphagnum moss is the dominant vegetation, and drainage is required to allow heather to flourish.[11] Drainage can damage these bogs.
Burning
To ensure a mosaic of heather of varying ages,
Heather burning when improperly carried out can have negative impacts on peat hydrology, peat chemistry and physical properties, river water chemistry and river ecology.[19] Moor burning reduces Sphagnum moss growth and the density of macroinvertebrates which play a vital role in aquatic food webs by feeding on algae, microbes and detritus at the base of food chains before they themselves are consumed by birds, fish and amphibians. Burning also reduces the water content of the upper layers of peat, so the peat is less able to retain minerals which are important for plant growth and resist acid rain.[20]
To minimize the damage, some moorland estates managed for grouse shooting have agreed not to burn over protected blanket bogs, where fires dry and burn the peat. However, some burning of these areas continues.[21] If a moorland is not burned over for several years, large stands of rank and woody heather build up, posing a risk of major fires due to the large fuel loads. Larger wildfires burn with greater intensity and may be more likely to burn the peat beneath.[16] This risk is limited to long-established, unnatural heather moorland that is actively burned; wildfires are very rare in the corresponding mosaic biome of southern Sweden.[4]: 165
A significant advantage of heather burning is its prevention of wildfires. Annual, managed burns of small patches of heather prevent the existence of large swathes of flammable areas.
Mowing
Trials of mechanical mowing have been made to achieve the same objective of regeneration of heather. Mowing produces only one-seventieth as much overall carbon dioxide emissions as burning but costs approximately six times more.[22]
Killing predators
Grouse moors have a near-200 year history of killing large numbers of predators, including many species that are now protected.
A 2017 study commissioned by Scottish Natural Heritage into the fate of satellite-tracked golden eagles concluded that "Corroborative information points to the perpetrators of the persecution of tagged eagles being associated with some grouse moors in the central and eastern Highlands of Scotland," and that "[t]his illegal killing has such a marked effect on the survival rates of the young birds that the potential capacity for the breeding golden eagle population continues to be suppressed around where this persecution largely occurs."[27]
The Langholm Moor Demonstration Project prevented the
Shooting and poisoning are not the only methods of killing predators. Illegal snares have been used to kill predators on grouse moors;[31] Spring and rail traps are widely used and can kill a variety of protected species.[32] Snares placed to trap foxes have even injured humans.[33][34]
In November 2020, the Scottish government announced that self-regulation and attempts at suppression of undesirable practices had failed. The government intends to start drafting new legislation that will impose a strict licensing regime on Scottish grouse moors, controlling raptor persecution, the burning of moorland, and mass medication with medicated grit. A joint industry statement said that Scotland already had the UK’s strictest anti-persecution measures and incidents were declining, and further regulation risked closing down grouse moors, with economic loss to gamekeepers and vulnerable rural businesses.[35]
Killing mountain hares
Mountain hares may be hosts for ticks and for louping ill virus, both of which they can share with red grouse (and with deer). In order to control tick-borne disease, some game managers have recommended killing mountain hares.[36] The only study that has been used to support this policy had no meaningful control group, used potentially confounding treatments, and there were no deer in the study area.[37] A recent study found no effects of mountain hare abundance on number of ticks on grouse, and actually found better grouse chick survival in areas with greater numbers of mountain hares.[38] The Scottish Parliament voted in June 2020 to protect mountain hares; it will be an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act to intentionally or recklessly kill or injure a hare without a licence.[39]
Economics and employment
Grouse shooting supports the equivalent of 2,592 full-time jobs in England, Wales and Scotland, some 1,772 actually managing moors.[4]: 161 The Moorland Association estimates the total economic value of the grouse-shooting industry at some £67 million per year.[40] However, this is supported by millions of pounds in subsidies.[41][4]: 162 [42] The small village of Blanchland, Northumberland (population 140) is a centre for grouse shooting in England; 55 per cent of its inhabitants are either directly or indirectly involved in grouse shooting.[43][44]
Grouse shooting is not directly eligible for government subsidy; however, the land over which it takes place is considered to be agricultural grazing land and therefore eligible for the Basic Farm Payment. The total government funding paid to grouse moor owners is therefore hard to estimate accurately. Estimates have circulated in the press as high as £85 million but a more realistic assessment is around £11 million in 2018.[45]
The profitability of grouse shooting is under threat from both climate and disease. There has been a long-term decline in red grouse numbers.[46] Weather conditions in recent years have resulted in shortages of grouse, to the extent that grouse shooting has had to be cancelled in some locations.[47][48] This has led landowners in upland areas to substitute pheasant and partridge shooting for grouse shooting, with an increased risk of disease spreading from rear-and-release pheasants and partridge to nearby red grouse.
Opposition to driven grouse shooting
The practices associated with driven grouse shooting have been criticised by many conservation bodies for harming moorland habitats and for illegally persecuting predators, particularly the
Alternative land uses
The main alternatives proposed are:
Rewilding, with ecotourism
The Revive coalition describes Scotland's grouse moors as "impoverished" and suggests that an increase in woodland and scrub cover and reinstatement of functioning bogs could result in an upland landscape composed of a mosaic of different woodland, scrub and open habitats. This would support a greater abundance and diversity of wildlife, supply improved
However, rewilding has been opposed by shooting organizations.[54] The chief executive of Scottish Land and Estates, which represents many grouse moor owners, said: “It is recommending a complete change in the landscape of Scotland. The bonnie purple heather will give way to an unmanaged vista of scrub and scarce wildlife.”[55]
In recent years a few large estates including grouse moors have been managed for the re-establishment of a more natural mosaic of habitats.
Intensive production of timber
Plantations of
Minimal management, sheep grazing
A former grouse moor in Berwyn, Wales, was allowed to fall out of management in the 1990s. As the area was not managed to restore its natural rich mosaic of habitats, heather was replaced by rank, ungrazed grass, few species replaced the grouse, and predators (especially crows and foxes) flourished.[4]: 169–170 The species specifically favoured by grouse moor management did particularly badly: within 20 years, lapwing became extinct at the site, golden plover declined by 90 per cent, and curlew declined by 79 per cent.[58]
References
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- ^ The Changing Distribution of Breeds of Sheep in Scotland, 1795–1965 W. J. Carlyle THE AGRICULTURAL HISTORY R£VIEW Vol 27 page 19 https://www.bahs.org.uk/AGHR/ARTICLES/27n1a3.pdfRetrieved 6 September 2023 from website of the British Agricultural History Society
- ^ "New study shows grouse moor management is helping to slow curlew decline". Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust. 8 August 2023. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
- ^ ISBN 978-1-78427-187-9.
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- ^ Prince, Dominic (12 March 2008). "The ultimate trophy asset for the new-money elite". The Spectator. Retrieved 28 October 2019.
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- ^ BD5104 'Restoration of blanket bog vegetation for biodiversity, carbon sequestration and water regulation'. Final Report Defra Project BD5104, final version March (2019). Dr Andreas Heinemeyer, Dr Harry W. Vallack, Dr Phoebe A. Morton, Dr Rachel Pateman, Dr Calvin Dytham, Prof. Phil Ineson, Dr Colin McClean, Prof. Charles Bristow and Dr James W. Pearce-Higgins, with an Appendix by Richard A. Lindsay. Stockholm Environment Institute, Environment Department, University of York, YO10 5NG http://sciencesearch.defra.gov.uk/Document.aspx?Document=14717_DefraBD5104FinalReport.pdf p.2
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- ^ a b Aebischer, N., Ewald, J. & Tapper, S., 2010. Driven grouse shooting in Britain: A form of upland management with wider conservation benefits. In: Proceedings of the World Symposium on Hunting Activities: Ecologic and Economic Benefits of Hunting. The World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities.
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External links
Media related to Grouse shooting at Wikimedia Commons