Inglorious 12th as lack of grouse hits shoots
Half of events cancelled as harsh winter and summer heat combine to produce shortage of game birds
IT IS a highlight of the countryside calendar, but it will be a less Glorious 12th this year after many shoots were cancelled due to a shortage of grouse.
The population has been badly affected by the harsh winter followed by the hot summer, and many of the moors in the north of England and the Scottish borders have had to abandon planned events in order to allow stocks to recover.
Amanda Anderson, director of The Moorland Association said: “Half of grouse shoots across England and Wales have cancelled their entire 2018 shooting programmes with the remainder running a much reduced schedule.”
August 12 marks the start of the grouse shooting season, although this year it falls on Monday 13 because it is illegal to shoot game birds on a Sunday in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. It is not illegal in Scotland, but the custom is observed.
The shortage of grouse is the worst in over a decade, according to experts. James Chapel, spokesman for William Powell Sporting, said: ‘’Although the season has not started yet it looks as though we are going to lose somewhere in the region of 50 per cent of the driven grouse days that we have organised for clients for the forthcoming season.”
He added: “If it was not for a couple of moors in the North Yorkshire Moors we would have over 80 per cent of our days cancelled.” The impact of the extreme weather has been on heather, the grouse’s main source of food. Female birds were in poor condition when they laid their eggs and then their chicks also struggled to find food.
Dr Adam Smith, Scotland director of the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, told Sky News: “We’re seeing only about 90 per cent of the adult birds that we saw in 2017 but, probably more importantly, we’re only seeing about two thirds of the young birds that we saw in 2017, so it’s a marked drop in production.” Debbie Collins a spokesman for the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, said: “Soaring temperatures have impacted the growth of heather across Britain’s moors. However, the extreme heat also means that there will be fewer insects, which the grouse chicks also eat.”
The growing number of parasites living in Scottish moorland is also thought to have contributed to the deaths of grouse chicks.
The shortage of grouse is thought to be so serious that a reduction in shooting the game bird may last beyond this season.