Benefits of grouse moor management
THE recent letter 'August 12 far from glorious for grouse', August 2, from Andrew Tyler, the director of the animal rights organisation Animal Aid, outlines a number of negative claims about the impending grouse shooting season.
In the interests of balance it might be worth mentioning some of the widely accepted benefits of moorland management for grouse.
First, as Mr Tyler points out, grouse shooting helps to create a heather-rich environment on much of our uplands. This is because grouse feed on the growing shoots of heather.
In fact, Britain's heather moorlands are recognised as internationally important and we have 75 per cent of the global area of this habitat. Heather moorland is under threat both in this country and abroad. It hosts many rare plants and animals, including hen harriers, short-eared owls, golden plovers, merlins and curlews.
Mr Tyler criticises the use of fire to manage heather moorland. However, natural fires have been a dominant force in the ecology of the uplands, and controlled burning and cutting reduces the risk of out of control wildfires which could cause massive damage both to wildlife and our communities.
Predator control carried out by gamekeepers also makes an important contribution to the breeding success of ground- nesting birds and other species.
Finally, Mr Tyler's claim that moorland management for grouse shooting is contributing to global warming is largely nonsense.
Our upland peat bogs are a massive carbon sink and it is key to restoring degraded peat to restore the heather on which the grouse depend. Drainage of moorland is a bad grouse moor management practice.
Giles Bradshaw
Rose Ash, Devon
3 Comments
by Will, Mid Devon
Tuesday, August 10 2010, 10:39AM
“Giles
I agree. I am not particularly against grouse shooting - or shooting any other game bird - from the animal rights point of view, although I am someone who enjoyed shooting in my youth but then decided I would prefer to watch things and encourage them rather than to kill them. Neither is grazing bad for heather moorland management if done correctly. Overgrazing of moorland is much less common these days since the subsidy system was changed from a headage payment to an area payment. In fact my impression is that in some areas under-management is now more of a problem, since livestock farming in the uplands is no longer at all profitable unless carried out under an agri-environment scheme. The trouble is that grouse shooting is extremely profitable when done on a large scale and intensively, but like all intensive land management it is not good for wildlife. How do you persuade landowners to "tone down" on the intensity of management of their grouse moors, or prevent neighbouring land owners from joining in when it is far more profitable than farming?
Entirely with you on the land drains issue - apart from anything else, the drying out of moorland makes it much more susceptible to wild fires with more likelihood of the peat also being burned.”
by Giles Bradshaw, Rose Ash
Tuesday, August 10 2010, 7:30AM
“Will I would recognise that out uplands can be better managed. One of the main tasks is to block the massive network of drainage channels that are causing them to dry out. However in my opinion groups like Animals Aid who simply want to ban grouse shooting and livestock grazing do not have the answer. We need to find a way of restoring uplands in conjunction with these interests and not in opposition.”
by Will, Mid Devon
Monday, August 09 2010, 5:19PM
“The best heather moorlands for wildlife are those with a mixture of habitats and vegetation types, not the heather monocultures that are typical of grouse moors.
Grouse moors are "farmed" for grouse, and on most little consideration is given to wildlife. The population of grouse is artificially high, and predator control is carried out to maintain these populations. Most other ground-nesting species benefit from a variety of habitats and any incidental benefit of predator control on grouse moors is far outweighed by the lack of this habitat variety. Additionally, avian predators such as harriers are persecuted by many unscrupulous gamekeepers, due to a monoculture grouse mentality.”