Page 73 - BBC Wildlife - August 2017 UK

AGENDA

RED GROUSE GOLDEN PLOVER MEADOW PIPIT SHORT-EARED OWL
Adults feed on fresh heather This medium-sizedplover is A small, streaky-breasted bird Migrates to moorland to breed.
tips, hence their association redolent of British uplands. on open moorland is probably Distinctive, stiff-winged flight,
with this habitat, though chicks The species has experienced a a meadow pipit. Some migrate often out in daylight hunting
require a more varieddiet. four per cent decline in the for the breeding season, others for voles. Moves away to
British subspecies is unique. UK in the past 20 years. are resident all year round. coastal areas in the winter.

grouse, and craneflies help feed the chicks, so density in recent decades in order to boost that,” Thompson says. “We want people to
it makes economic and ecological sense. profits. Grouse densities have improved with understand they are great for wildlife, as well
“A few years ago, none of us knew about re-investment following the war years and as providing important ecosystem services.”
deeppeat or water colouration,” Anderson medicatedgrit has smoothed thecyclical Grouse moor managers say if shooting isn’t
says. “Sphagnum moss holds water up and nature of the wild population, she says, but going to pay for the management of heather
filters it for free. There is now a sea change harvests in most regions are lower than they moorland, what will? “If you asked visitors
in our understanding and attitude – ‘wetter werebefore thewars. to Bolton Abbey, ‘Should it be managed this
is better’ for both grouse and environmental For Wilby, though, maximising the number way?’, lots of them would say ‘Yes’,” says the
outcomes. We are improvingblanket bog ofgrouse chicks that fledge is a critical part of estate’s Ben Heyes. “But you might get a
coverage, working with all interested parties.” his job.“The most I have seen in one clutch different response if you asked, ‘Would you
Anderson, however, rejects theclaim is 17,” hesays. “Normal is about eight or nine, like your taxes to pay for it?’”
w
t tatat oor ow ers ave i creased grouseow e s ave c eased grouse while if you see a lot of clutches of 11 or 12,e y The argument becomes almost circular
oo
you are g – our taxes do help manage grouse moors,
going to be all right. If the weather
turns, you can insists former RSPB conservation director,
lose the lot.” Mark Avery. “Imagine you owned 10,500ha
PEOPLE of upland,” he wrote on his blog earlier this
` THINK WE NEW VISIONS year. “You receive £56/ha for that land every
SHOOT ALL So, where does this year – that’s a cool £0.5m. And ifyou run that
land as a grouse shoot, then you still get the
debate go from
YEAR, BUT here? Certainly, agricultural payments.”
there is a broader, For Thompson, if one thing were to
MOST OF THE public-engagement change, he would likeitto betheidea that
TIME, THE issue than simply the more grouse you shoot in a day, the more
red grouse v raptors. fun you’ve had. “I know people who have
MOOR IS LEFT “Public perception paid a fortune to fish on the River Spey, not
TO NATURE.” of moorlands is that caught a thing and still had the best week of
they are cold,wet their life,” he says. So, if the same ethos
and miserable, and applied to grouse-shooting, would the
Paul Wilby, Bolton Ab bey
head gamekeeper we need to change problems and polarisation go away?

Burning heather at Predator control – here
Bolton Abbey allows a tunnel trap for stoats
freshgrowthto – is a crucial part of a
come through. gamekeeper’s job.

BBC Wildlife 73