DIVERSE GROUSE
Jack Depledge ends his first year at college where he started, on the grouse moors, but the season’s report has baffled some keepers
The end of my first year at The Northern School of Game and Wildlife is marked with my return to college in September, and what a year it has been. Flat out from day one, The Northern School of Game and Wildlife has kept us learning and laughing while loving just about every day.
Ending my first year with how it begun – loading, beating and picking up on the glorious grouse moors – is a gift that not many receive. I am lucky enough to be working on a driven grouse moor on the Bowland/North Yorkshire boundary to complete the “work-related experience” unit of my course.
Diverse grouse
At the time of writing we are well into the 2016 grouse season; and the reports on success? Diverse is the best description. The benefit of such a lengthy period of work experience during the summer months is that, as students, we are allowed to witness preparation for the shooting season – from late May until mid-September. This allows us to observe the planning and preparation for the shoot days and how to deal with the problems and issues that undoubtedly arise – this is one skill that is certainly best taught, and learned, in a real workplace situation.
With grouse populations on the moors easily affected by so many factors (some out of any control), this is certainly an issue to be accounted for before the shooting season – one I have observed this year. In the area I am working, the grouse reports are unusual with some summer counts noticeably down from previous years (some even down from the spring count!), and early August days had to be cancelled. Not only fewer birds, but also younger birds became an apparent problem when counting in late July. Unfortunately very young broods were not unusual, suggesting that pairs may have abandoned early nesting attempts and opted for a later brood.
It is important to understand why, as this may allow positive development in the management strategies to try and prevent issues occurring in future years. In our case, however, this proved more difficult than first thought.
Without any period of overly harsh weather around peak hatching time, it is difficult to work out why there are numerous late broods. We are not collecting deceased birds, through predation or disease, and worm counts in the grouse faeces is relatively low, therefore reasons for reduced population is difficult to comprehend.
Strange shoot days
The grouse continued to behave strangely on shoot days. I was loading on 13 August and instead of the traditional early season small family coveys of grouse, the first grouse to pass through the butts was a pack of around 60. The birds were also very stubborn to turn, and quite a few grouse simply wouldn’t turn over the butts and were lost from the drive. To quote a keeper I heard on that day, “It’s just like November birds in August”, which is the best description for the behaviour we witnessed.
Although the grouse have baffled some gamekeepers this year, others are experiencing great seasons so far. It can be heartbreaking for keepers who have devoted their lives to managing the moorland, to have poor numbers of grouse for reasons out of their control. However, on a more successful year, it can give gamekeepers complete job satisfaction to continue their vital conservation work on UK moorland and to ensure the broad range of wildlife thrives to its full potential. Successful conservation and shoot management go hand in hand, a key principle being taught at The Northern School of Game and Wildlife. It is vital to the future of shooting on uplands, lowlands, woodlands and wetlands up and down the country.