‘Hopes are high’ for better grouse shooting season

Estate owners and area’s companies welcome ‘rich seam of business’, while animal charity criticises lack of ‘inspection or regulation’

Estate owners and gamekeepers are hopeful the new grouse shooting season will be better than last year, when extreme weather hit breeding.

Yesterday marked the “Glorious Twelfth”, the start of the 16-week season when hunting enthusiasts seek out red grouse on moors across the country.

At Rottal Estates in Glen Clova, Angus, owner Dee Ward said he is fully booked over the next three weeks with guests who will take part in shoots before dining on the birds. He is optimistic about grouse numbers after a poor 2018, when late snow followed by very dry conditions reduced the number successfully breeding.

The grouse season runs for 16 weeks until December 10 and is estimated to contribute more than £30 million to the £155m overall value of country sports to Scotland. Studies suggest shooting sports support the equivalent of 8,800 full-time jobs in Scotland, of which 2,640 are in the grouse sector.

Mr Ward said: “The grouse were out of condition when they came to breed and then we had very dry weather so there was not a lot of insect life, which the chicks require in the first few days to survive.

“We feel that it’s going to be a slightly better year this year. Hopes are high.”

Lesley McArthur of the Glen Clova Hotel said: “Our local grouse moors provide a rich seam of business to us, which extends through the autumn and winter seasons.

“It is difficult to imagine a scenario where the tourism – and therefore revenue – provided by visitors coming to the Angus Glens to shoot could be provided by any other means.”

The start of the season has reignited the debate over grouse shooting, which environmental and animal welfare campaigners say is barbaric and damages important natural habitats.

They claim predators such as foxes and stoats are routinely killed to keep grouse numbers up and have expressed concern over the disappearance of a number of birds of prey over grouse moors in recent months.

Labour is calling for a review of grouse shooting and said consideration should be given to “viable alternatives” such as simulated shooting or wildlife tourism.

But moorland groups cite the boost to the rural economy and the trickle-down effect to communities and say managed grouse moors support other wildlife.

Tim Baynes, director of the Scottish Land and Estates Moorland Group, said: “The Scottish Government have very sensibly decided to have a review, with a panel of experts looking at all the different aspects, and we expect their report in the coming weeks.

“That seems to be the best way to approach this. The grouse shooting sector is very keen to do whatever it can to improve best practice and work with the public.”

Bob Elliot, director of animal charity OneKind, said: “There is nothing glorious about the day which marks the start of the shooting of large numbers of grouse.

“Wildlife culling is carried out all year round, on an enormous scale, to eradicate predators from the moors.

“These animals can be legally trapped, shot and snared in Scotland’s countryside with very little in the way of public scrutiny, inspection, or regulation by the authorities. People are now far more aware of the issues of intensivelymanaged grouse moors and the more they hear, the less they like it.”

The traditional celebrations of the Glorious Twelfth have marked the start of the grouse season in Scotland for 2019. For the next 16 weeks, parties will be taken out on to Scotland’s managed moorlands where they will have the opportunity to shoot game birds for sport.

It has been part of the countryside economy for longer than any of us can remember, contributes several million pounds per year to the rural economy and provides muchneeded employment.

In the same manner that livestock are raised on farms across the country for the specific purpose of being slaughtered for human consumption. the destiny of grouse on managed moorlands is pre-ordained.

Advocates argue that the birds enjoy a good life and that shooting should be taken in the round as part of a wider and sustainable approach to the management of wild habitats.

However, there is also a strong and growing lobby that believes that allowing grouse to be killed as a commercial enterprise is immoral and should be banned outright.

Labour is currently calling for a review of grouse shooting.

But in a Brexit-dominated climate, it is difficult to see the matter forcing its way to the top of the agenda any time soon.

The only certainty is the debate will continue to rage long after the guns have fallen silent on the 2019 grouse season.