Glenogil Estate in Angus
Janet Menzies joins the GWCT raffle winners for a grouse day
The first challenge for this party of lucky Guns from Essex – who had won the day in a GWCT raffle – was to stomp up to their butts, where glorious views and testing birds awaited
Mountain hare lopped in and out of the butts and we had blackcock flying over us
As far as the eye can see is a very long way indeed if you are sitting in butt nine on the return of Glenmoy drive at Glenogil Estate, in the Angus Glens. From our perch, about 500 metres above sea level and 15 miles north of Glamis Castle, you can see the sea 27 miles away at Montrose. The landscape alone is enough to make Glenogil special, and it is easy to understand why the estate was bought in 2013.
Following the change of ownership, the estate launched into an enthusiastic programme of conservation, becoming a member of the influential Angus Glens Moorland Group, founded in 2015. By the time The Field visited last season, the estate’s conservation efforts were already showing massive progress, especially in black grouse numbers – a beacon species for British shooting and conservation.
Glenogil’s headkeeper, Danny Lawson, reported: “We record the number of birds at the same sites and at the same time each spring to make sure our conservation strategy is working and earlier this year we counted 109 males on 15 lek sites. The black game are doing quite well at the moment, so the careful conservation plans of regenerating heather and keeping tick levels down are working.” Management of hare numbers is crucial in reducing the tick burden on any grouse moor, but as we spoke the Scottish government had introduced the Animals and Wildlife (Penalties, Protections and Powers) (Scotland) Act 2020. This licensing arrangement, overseen by Naturescot, makes hare culling illegal except under licences issued in exceptional circumstances, such as a risk to public health or protection of crops and timber. Lawson told me: “Controlling hare numbers is a huge part of our management because of the ticks they carry and having it taken away is giving us huge problems. We are finding the tick very much on the increase.”
Hopefully, Naturescot will consider the conservation of the emblematic black grouse to be a special circumstance but it can’t be assumed, given Naturescot’s wildlife management director Donald Fraser’s recent statement: “Mountain hares – our only native hare – are an important and valued species in the Scottish hills. This increased protection will help ensure healthy populations of mountain hares can be found and enjoyed in the mountains…” It would seem that when it comes to conservation, some iconic species are more iconic than others.
On our day, along with lots of mountain hare lopping in and out of the butts, we had some blackcock flying over us with their amazing curled walking-stick tail feathers looking just like a painting. Appropriately, the day had been won in a Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) raffle by William Gardiner and his team, who are based in Essex. Gardiner commented: “I actually won this in the December 2018 raffle but the day had to be postponed; we feel so lucky to be able to be out this season.”
His team agreed: “We feel honoured to be here – it is so generous of the estate to contribute a day that we could only dream of.”
When we stomped up the steep terrain to the first drive, there was less dreaming and more perspiring. But it was
worth it as I joined Jenny and Lewis Jukes in their butt for the first drive. As we settled in, Jenny opened her cartridge bag to reveal it was full of tubes of watercolour paint. While Lewis did his best with the grouse, Jenny would be painting the scene in the most plein of plein air possible. She acknowledged: “It is a bit tricky on the wet days. You can see where the rain has got on some of these.” Her sketchbook was full of delightful, impressionist watercolour sketches of shooting days. It would be interesting to see what she made of this first drive, where we could see Scotland stretching away almost into infinity and wonder surely there is room here for everyone?
Then, suddenly, the first covey came banking over the shoulder of the hill, taking us by surprise and passing on unscathed, with a thrumming, rustling flurry of wings that gives you tingles. The action on this drive was mainly at the top end of the line, worth the climb for the higher butts. While it may not have been very productive in terms of the bag, Jenny saved the day by completing her first painting. “I aim to have each one finished by the end of the drive,” she explained. “With this enormous view, I am trying to give an impressionistic idea of the whole scene.”
When John Savage arrived at butt nine for the return drive, he was already carrying a brace, proving that the top of the line had been more successful on the first drive. Savage couldn’t resist a slightly triumphant: “I had seven shots and I killed a brace, so I am happy.” I explained that our butt had been concentrating on art. Savage agreed that it was a view to make you think and we wondered how a landscape could become politicised. “The trouble is that people and wildlife don’t mix and that is something that is really impossible to solve. People want to come out and feel included, but it is all about the conservation. And stood here looking out, I am so struck by the sheer size of Scotland that you are hopeful that it can provide solutions,” said Savage.
On this return drive, the massive, speedy coveys had broken up a bit, making life a little easier for the Guns. All the same, they admitted the need to sharpen up and take the birds earlier. But given that Essex is as flat as a pancake and doesn’t hold grouse, their lack of expertise was forgivable. Grouse shooting is the most specialist of all the driven disciplines and hard to replicate on clays, so upland keepers do get used to seeing their guests get a little flustered.
As we primed our breathing apparatus to set off on the climb for the third drive, Tawes, Savage joked: “So much for this being a sport for bloated plutocrats. You won’t be bloated after a walk like this and I’m certainly not a plutocrat. It is something else, isn’t it?” It certainly was.
By this third drive, the Guns had got their swings going, so there was work to do for yellow labrador Beryl and her 18-month-old daughter, Fig, much to the delight of their owner, Nick Jones, who said: “Fig is our fifth generation of our own breeding, and I am so pleased she is doing so well – and her mother is finding a few as well.”
BETTER PREPARED
Things got even better as the sun came out fully on St Arnold’s, the fourth drive. The drive is named after St Arnold’s Seat, the 507-metre summit topped with a large cairn and popular with hikers and mountain bikers. For Chris Thorogood, this was the best drive of the day: “It is the first time today that I can actually see the birds coming, which makes it a bit easier to be prepared. We farm near Chelmsford, in Essex – it couldn’t be more different. I was talking to some of the youngsters helping with beating, etcetera, today and they told me that the Covid restrictions had hit them hard and they are pretty much out of work. I asked them about the shooting – they said, “All the better, we need to get a bit
of pocket money together and often come out here for the day.”
The beaters were working hard. Turning from the view of the sea down in the east, you could see the beaters far distant on top of the next hill. They were sending the grouse flying slightly uphill towards the Guns, making a much more obvious target than on the earlier drives. Thorogood pulled down a left-and-right out of the first covey. “It is the getting that bit more warning that makes the difference,” he said with some relief. The butts were cleverly sited, so the grouse came bursting upwards and quite high by the time they reached the Guns. Some birds get up very early on and come at height over the butts – the sort of shot you can practise for.
BEST GROUND
A delighted team was on a high after St Arnold’s. Nick Jones commented: “We are so privileged, the shoot has given us some of their best ground today.” And the keeper, Lawson, had saved the best for last. Cairn, the return of St Arnold’s, provided plentiful coveys at some amazing heights. Lawson’s team managed the drive cleverly, with flankers pinching in on both sides at the top of the hill. As Jones remarked: “It means they have been able to spread the shooting all along the line – and Fig and Beryl have had plenty of work to do.”
As the day ended and the Guns gathered for refreshment, everybody was happy. The massive coveys at the start of the day were testing, as Gardiner commented: “There were so many birds together it was difficult at first, but you are happy when one falls out of the sky.”
So the keepers had plenty of birds to count and they treated the bag with great care, as Lawson explained: “We do a full health check on the birds that are shot. During worming, we ring to monitor parasites, but also we take blood samples from a percentage of each bag and these go away to be checked for virus.”
This is typical of the attention to detail at Glenogil. Every estate building, including guest accommodation at Redheaugh Lodge and The Bothy, has been tastefully refurbished. The low ground at Glenogil isn’t neglected, either, featuring a historic arboretum with stunning specimen trees. Lawson explains: “We manage 20,000 acres, including about 1,500 acres of trees and forestry. This includes a big low-ground shoot, which does about 50 pheasant and partridge days a season. As far as possible, we shoot about 15 grouse days. Overall, we have a big team of keepers on the low ground and about six grouse keepers, plus me.”
It used to be considered bad manners to talk about money, but in the light of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2016 and the successive statements from Holyrood regarding Scottish Land Rights and Responsibilities (2017) and the Third Land Use Strategy (2021), it is impossible not to mention that a great deal of international money has been spent on making Glenogil a conservation haven and visitor’s heaven. The commitment of the estate’s absentee landlord is everywhere very present.
For more information about Glenogil Estate and its wide range of facilities, call Andrew Montgomery on 01356 627327 or visit: glenogilestate.com
To join the GWCT, call 01425 651024 or visit: gwct.org.uk
There were so many birds together it was difficult at first