Why it may not be such a Glorious Twelfth this year - Adrian Blackmore
As can often be the case, the coming grouse season sadly looks as if it will be a mixed one. For numerous moors in Yorkshire and elsewhere it was always going to be a matter of ‘rebuilding’ stocks after the appalling weather during last year’s breeding season which saw most, if not all, their days being cancelled.
Although the conditions this spring and early summer were a great improvement, the lower number of breeding hen grouse following last year’s decline invariably resulted in fewer broods.
But what has further exacerbated what was already going to be a lean season for many has been the widespread outbreaks of heather beetle which have decimated large swathes of moorland in the Yorkshire Dales and on the North York Moors.
It is often the appearance of the heather itself that provides the first sign that these tiny creatures are present, by which time it is too late to do anything about them. Heather plants that have been targeted by beetles and their larvae can have their leaves completely eaten away, leaving just bare red or grey stalks.
The resultant loss of food and shelter for grouse and other ground nesting birds that share this moorland habitat can have a devastating impact on their populations, especially when they are at a low as is the case this year.
Grouse live on heather moorland throughout the year and nesting on the ground they are highly susceptible to many factors, some of which are controllable but with others such as weather that are not. It is therefore imperative that moorland managers control those they can, such as the management of habitat to ensure a mixture of older heather for protection and nesting, with younger heather for feeding.
The importance of predator control should also not be underestimated. Recently published research has shown that within just a decade of stopping predator management on an area of moorland in Northumberland, populations of moorland species such as red grouse, golden plover, snipe, lapwing and curlew dropped by 71 per cent, 81 per cent, 76 per cent, 58 per cent and 24 per cent respectively, with black grouse and grey partridge becoming locally extinct. Meanwhile, fox numbers had risen by 78 per cent, and carrion crows by 127 per cent.
It is the income from shooting that helps offset the considerable private costs of managing moorland for grouse shooting. Even on moors where shooting will have to be reduced or cancelled this season, that management will continue, protecting not just those directly employed, but also our upland landscapes which support some of our rarest wildlife.
A poor grouse season with fewer days taking place across the region will have an impact on more than just the owners and managers affected.
Grouse shooting is about everyone that is out each day, whether it is the guns, loaders, beaters, pickers up with their dogs, or all those others that also have a role to play.
It brings people from all walks of life together, making it an important and enjoyable social occasion for whole communities in our uplands, but that is something that many will be deprived of this season.
It will also invariably result in a loss of income for all these casual employees, as well as having a very real impact on numerous local businesses which rely on the trade grouse shooting generates. The Glorious Twelfth is meant to celebrate the culmination of all the hard work that has gone on throughout the year to make our grouse moors the unique places they are, but this year it will sadly not be quite so glorious for everyone.
Adrian Blackmore is director of shooting at the Countryside Alliance.