Grouse moors are a glorious success
THE letter from Andrew Tyler of Animal Aid on grouse moor management, August 12 far from glorious for grouse, August 2, contains inaccuracies and misinformation.
Grouse moor management has been instrumental in producing a landscape both rich in wildlife and biodiversity.
Nesting on the ground, the eggs and chicks of red grouse are vulnerable to a range of predators, so the legal control of common predators such as foxes, stoats, weasels and carrion crows is essential, not only for red grouse, but for species of threatened ground-nesting birds that share the same habitat.
When unmanaged, heather grows into a dense mass of long woody stems that supports very little wildlife, has no grazing value, and is a serious wildfire risk. Unlike a wildfire, the controlled cool burning of heather does not harm wildlife; neither does it harm the environment. And the digging of drainage ditches, or grips, has not happened since the 1970s, when thousands of acres were drained, with government grants, in line with agricultural policy of the time.
The subsequent erosion and loss of habitat that occurred has resulted in many thousands of kilometres of those grips now being blocked for the benefit of water quality, wildlife and landscape value. Many more grips are still to be blocked; not dug.
It is because of the habitat produced through careful moorland management that almost half of all grouse moors are designated as EU Special Protection Areas for the rare birds they support, and as Special Areas of Conservation due to the variety of plant species.
Nationally, 66 per cent of grouse moors are protected as Sites of Special Scientific Interest, and 45 per cent carry all three of the designations.
They are a true conservation success story, and something glorious to be celebrated.
Adrian Blackmore
Moorlands Director Countryside Alliance Cooper House Farm Cotherstone, Co Durham
3 Comments
by Will, Mid Devon
Friday, August 06 2010, 12:56PM
“Giles
When you say that grouse moor management is changing I hope you mean that it is already becoming more ecologically sound, not just that it can become so. It is some time since I have been on any grouse moor, but when I visited the North York Moors a few years ago there were huge areas of dense heather monoculture being managed specifically for grouse that were of little value to anything else compared to other heather moorland.
Overgrazing was a huge problem for moorland and resulted in large areas with little or no heather. But to invoke this problem in comparison with grouse moors is also a rather black and white view. The problem of overgrazing is now much reduced in most uplands now that sheep headage subsidies have been replaced by area payments, and also with more land being managed under agri-environment schemes - more or less the only way to make a profit from farming in upland areas these days, I gather - except for managing them for grouse, of course!”
by giles, rose ash
Thursday, August 05 2010, 9:37PM
“I think that is a rather black and white view Will. There is certainly good and bad grouse moor management as there is any other form of farming. Over grazing can be a massive problem too.
Grouse moor management is also changing and I am sure it can become even more ecologically sound.”
by Will, Mid Devon
Thursday, August 05 2010, 5:47PM
“It depends what you are comparing grouse moors with. The vegetation on grouse moors are managed specifically to maintain heather. The heather maturation cycle is maintained by rotational burning and most grouse moors are heather monocultures. The most biodiverse moors are not grouse moors but those consisting of a mosaic of vegetation types, including heather, managed by grazing, sometimes in conjunction with burning. No one wants uncontrolled wild-fires.
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 other than monoculture dense heather, and any incidental benefit of predator control on them 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.”