Not So Glorious?

What were you doing on the twelfth of August? Starting to panic about the back-to-school essentials? Sitting trapped in the office? Or maybe you were enjoying an exotic beach holiday? Many of the people, for whom the “Glorious Twelfth” represents the beginning of the shooting season, will have been descending on the UK’s grouse moors. But this year the Glorious Twelfth was welcomed in with calls for driven grouse shooting to be banned.
In order to maintain economically viable grouse shoots, moors are managed intensively to maximise the numbers of grouse that can live there. This includes the burning of heather on a rotation of, ideally, every 10-15 years, the distribution of medicated grain to prevent losses to disease and predator control, including illegal persecution of hen harriers.
In his new book Inglorious Mark Avery, former conservation director at the RSPB, claims that the persecution of the hen harrier is supressing their recovery on land managed for grouse shooting. Dr Avery also draws on evidence from a study by Leeds University that finds a link between heather burning and climate change. The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust have responded saying that the way grouse moors are managed promotes high biodiversity, with threated species like golden plover and lapwing thriving on grouse moors. A study on Welsh moorland found that curlew declined by 79%, the golden plover population dropped from 10 birds to just 1 and curlew became extinct, less than 20 years after grouse shooting finished on the study site. Grouse shooting also has a massive economic benefit for rural communities, with about 4000 jobs depending on the industry.
As discussed in the latest edition of Root & Branch, the debate is very complex and growing increasingly polarised, with strong opinions on both sides. Grouse shooting has been shown to have a large economic and ecological benefit, but at the cost of the suppression of hen harrier numbers and a contribution to climate change. Perhaps, instead of a ban, it is time to encourage communication between the different sides of the argument, to increase understanding of each other’s perspectives. In this way we can begin to manage our uplands for the benefit of all.
Sources:
The Independent
Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust