Rural economy

Weather-ravaged grouse shooting season has cost £10m.

This year’s weather-ravaged grouse shooting season has cost more than £10 million to the Scottish rural economy, a new survey has revealed.

The 2018 season officially closed last week but many estates stopped earlier due to a lack of surplus grouse for UK and overseas sportsmen and women to shoot.

Now the costs of the poor season have been estimated, with between £10m and £15m expected to have been wiped off the usual economic spin-off of £32 million.

A confidential poll of 50 estates across Scotland, conducted by Scotland’s seven regional moorland groups, found that more than £7.8 million was lost to the economy from booked dates that had to be cancelled.

Given the survey sample size, that figure is only a snapshot of what has been lost country-wide. In the sample, the equivalent of 16,000 seasonal shoot day shifts for beaters, cooks, clearers and housekeepers were also cancelled, amounting to well over £1.2m of cash that would have been circulating through remote communities during a normal season.

“There is no direct subsidy for grouse shooting in Scotland so estates will have to take the losses from this year on the chin and hope for better in 2019

Scottish Government receipts will also be down between £2m and £3m on a good grouse year, through missing VAT and tax receipts on cancelled bookings, seasonal shifts and taxable profits.

The survey could not gather data from businesses reliant on the visitor income, such as airports, accommodation, food and drink businesses and equipment suppliers. However, if this was accounted for, it is believed that between £10m and £15m would be shaved off the £32m normally enjoyed in better years.

“There is no direct subsidy for grouse shooting in Scotland so estates will have to take the losses from this year on the chin and hope for better in 2019. Mixed estates will have to try to absorb the impacts from other arms of their operations,” said a spokesperson for Scotland’s Regional Moorland Groups, which conducted the survey.

“Grouse are a totally wild bird and the breeding season was badly hit by the snows of the beast from the east, followed by a long, dry summer which meant that females were not in favourable condition when it came to breeding time. Estates only shoot when there is a harvestable surplus and it is sustainable to do so.

“Some decided to scale back their programmes. Some decided to cancel their dates completely.”

Areas particularly badly hit were Grampian, Tayside, Speyside and Angus, although the Angus Glens still saw a reasonable shoot programme, given the challenges.

The untold impacts will be on the shops and diverse trades that benefit directly from visitor income in the shoulder season.

Picture: Getty. Moors across Tayside and Grampian were said to be badly hit.