Driven grouse shooting

Red Grouse

Driven grouse shooting is a field sport of the United Kingdom. It is popular because it provides a challenge due to the rapid flight of the grouse. The grouse shooting season extends from 12 August, often called the "Glorious Twelfth", to 10 December each year. Shooting takes place on grouse moors, areas of moorland in northern England and Scotland.

Description

Shooting butts on Scottish grouse moor

The name 'driven grouse shooting' refers to the way in which the grouse are driven towards the hunters (termed 'guns') by beaters. A shooting party usually includes 8–10 guns who stand in a line in the butts—hides for shooting spaced some 20–30 m apart, screened by a turf or stone wall and usually sunken into the ground to minimise their profile—to shoot the grouse in flight.^[1] There is a strict code of conduct governing behaviour on the grouse moor for both safety and etiquette. Grouse shooting can also be undertaken by 'walking up' grouse over pointers, or by flushing the birds with other dogs.^[2]

Grouse management

The Red Grouse is a medium-sized bird of the grouse family or subfamily which is found in heather moorland in Great Britain and Ireland. It is usually classified as a subspecies of the Willow Grouse, but is sometimes considered to be a separate species Lagopus scoticus. It is also known as the moorfowl or moorbird. The grouse can fly at up to 130 km/h (81 mph).^[3]

To create a large population of grouse, gamekeepers employ heather burning techniques and predator control. This involves burning patches of heather on the moorland. A burnt patch allows fresh shoots to come through which are ideal nutrition for grouse. Burning is done in patches so that there is a variety of heather heights. While the short new shoots provide food, the taller, older heather provides cover and shelter for the grouse. Proponents claim that not only does heather burning help the grouse population thrive but it encourages other wildlife by creating a variety of habitats in moorland areas.^[4] However, some studies suggest that burning heather has a large number of negative consequences on the diverse moorland environment, the underlying water table and the associated downstream rivers.^[5] It 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. It also reduces the water content of the upper layers of peat which results in the peat being less able to retain exchangeable cations which are important for plant growth and resist acid rain. The study found that rivers draining burned catchments were characterised by lower calcium concentrations and lower pH relative to rivers draining unburned catchments and had higher concentrations of silica, manganese, iron and aluminium. Leaving areas unburnt for many year may allow some of these changes to be reversed.

Grouse moors have a near-200 year history of recorded predator control. One of the largest recorded kills was at the 6,500 acre Glengarry estate in Scotland where the following mammals were killed between the years 1837 and 1840. Stoat (Mustela erminea) and weasel (Mustela nivalis) 301, pine marten (Martes martes), 246, wildcat (Felis silvestris) 198, polecat (Mustela putorius) 106, house cat (Felis catus) 78, badger (Meles meles) 67, otter (Lutra lutra) 48 and red fox (Vulpes vulpes) 11. Birds killed in the same period were, hooded crow (Corvus cornix) 1431, raven (Corvus corax) 475, kestrel (Falco tinnunculus) 462, buzzard (Buteo buteo) 285, red kite (Milvus milvus) 275, goshawk (Accipiter gentilis) 63, hen harrier (Circus cyaneus) 63, white-tailed eagle (Haliaeetus albicilla) 27, osprey (Pandion haliaetus) 18, golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) 15 and magpie (Pica pica) 2 (the 371 rough-legged buzzard (Buteo lagopus) must be misidentification!).^[6]

Economics

Grouse shooting scene in Yorkshire – 1836 painting by John Fearnley

Rural communities benefit from grouse shooting each year. A parish survey around Blanchland, Northumberland (population 140), has found that 55 per cent of people are either directly or indirectly involved in grouse shooting and that increased guest numbers in the four-month shooting season push up the hotel's average occupancy rate from 50 to 65 per cent per year.^[7][8] The grouse shooting industry has a big role in helping maintain, restore and preserve the local landscape. Grouse is also served in many local pubs, hotels and restaurants, boosting the hospitality industry.^[4]

Some important statistics are:

• One keeper looks after approx. 3,500 acres (14 km²).
• Managers aim to hold 16 shootings days per 7,000 acres (28 km²).
• The fixed annual cost of running a grouse moor with two keepers is approx. £75,000.
• The government subsidy to moor owners is £56/ha per annum, equivalent to £158,600 for a 7,000 acres (2,800 ha) moor.^[9]
• Each shooting day costs £1,800 to run with 30 beaters and pickers up, nine loaders @ £50 per day and fuel for five vehicles @ £60 per tank.
• The cost to take part in a grouse shoot at one Yorkshire estate range from £35 per bird to £43 per bird^[10] and a large shoot can charge £33,000 per day.^[11]
• Potential revenue from let shooting is £120 per brace (a brace, in hunting, is two birds) with an average of 150 brace shot per day. Birds sold to a game dealer can fetch £4 per brace.
• Visiting guns spend in rural areas per shooting day: £100 per person dinner, bed and breakfast (full party of 9 guns = £1,800 including partners), lunch for nine (£20 per head) and further unknown expense on fuel, gun equipment, shopping, etc.^[12]

Opposition

The driven grouse shooting industry has been criticised by some conservation bodies for harming moorland habitats and for illegally persecuting predators, particularly the hen harrier, which preys on grouse chicks. The RSPB has called for shoots to be licensed,^[13] and former RSPB Conservation Director Dr Mark Avery raised a petition calling for a ban on the practice^[14] that, as of December 2014, had attracted over 20,000 signatures.^[15] Snares placed to trap foxes which prey on grouse pose a risk to walkers and runners and can be poorly marked.^[16][17]

References