Grouse shortage means Glorious 12th is under a cloud this year: Adrian Blackmore

Red grouse, a species that is unique to the United Kingdom, are totally wild, living on heather moorland all year round.

Unlike pheasant and red-legged partridge, their population is not maintained or increased through the release of birds that have been reared or hatched in captivity. Nesting on the ground, they are particularly vulnerable to predation, disease, loss of suitable habitat, and weather.

Although many moors started the year with a really healthy breeding stock, the constant cold and wet weather in April and May when birds were sitting on their nests and eggs were hatching saw the loss of many broods.

Although grouse will have a second brood if the first is lost, many of these also failed to survive the bad weather that continued into June and early July, and for those chicks that did hatch, there just weren’t the insects needed for their survival.

As a result, there are vast areas of moorland without a sustainable surplus of grouse to allow any shooting to take place this season, with many estates having had to cancel most, if not all their shooting days.

This is not just a blow to moor owners who let days to help offset the cost of their management, it will also result in a loss of income to all those employed casually on shoot days, whether as beaters, loaders, pickers-up, or catering staff.

Cancelled days will likewise have a very real impact on numerous local businesses, with bookings for accommodation cancelled, and the takings in shops and pubs significantly reduced with no spending by either visiting guns or those that would normally come together after a shoot day.

What many people forget is that grouse shooting is about whole communities in our uplands.

For these, it is an important part of their lives, not just economically, though that is a major consideration for many where opportunities for employment are few and far between, but also socially, bringing together people from all walks of life.

The ongoing investment by moor owners, who are motivated by their love of grouse shooting and their dedication to maintaining and enhancing our upland landscapes, protects the income of those directly employed on estates.

Even when there is no income from shooting to help cover the costs, the management continues and it is this that has played such an important role in preserving and improving heather habitat and peatland, sustaining some of our rarest plants and wildlife, and promoting biodiversity.

Grouse shooting is part of a complex mix of activities that result in more positive outcomes for people and nature than any of the various alternative uses of moorland that have been put forward by others.

It encompasses the full meaning of ‘sustainability’, with moorland management involving numerous strands. Take away one strand, such as driven grouse shooting, and the environmental, social and economic implications – the three pillars of sustainability that have been identified by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature - would be considerable.

Our grouse moors are a biodiversity success story, with species of threatened ground-nesting bird such as merlin, curlew, lapwing, golden plover, and hen harrier also breeding successfully and in greater numbers than elsewhere in the uplands when the conditions are right.

Take the hen harrier. Just eleven years ago there were no successful nesting attempts in England, but there are now more hen harriers nesting than at any point since they were lost as a breeding species around 200 years ago.

In 2023, Natural England recorded a total of 54 nests in the North of England, the vast majority of which were on managed grouse moors. 36 of those nests were successful, with a total of 141 chicks fledged.

Sadly, opponents to grouse shooting can be expected to blame what will invariably be lower figures this year on anything but the weather, but thanks to the determination and commitment of those managing our heather moorland for grouse shooting, and if conditions are right, it should be a different story next year.

We can only hope that next year’s start of the season, which is of such benefit to so many, will once again be glorious.

Adrian Blackmore is Director of the Campaign for Shooting, Countryside Alliance.