Grouse season escapes bite of recession

GROUSE shooting has so far largely escaped the bite of the recession, the Moorland Association said yesterday ahead of the start of this year’s season.

The season looks likely to be a “mixed bag” with some areas suffering from patchy shooting in the wake of a record year for red grouse in 2008.

According to the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust, areas such as the Northendales are likely to have succumbed to the “periodic crash” brought on by disease when birds reach too high a density.

In some cases the bad weather last August prevented shoots going ahead, leaving large grouse populations which then became susceptible to disease.

Pre-season counts of grouse by the trust suggest some moors will have an exceptional year.

Numbers of the wild bird are up by about 25% in Scotland on recent years, with some areas having the best “shootable surplus” of the bird since 2003, the trust said.

According to Edward Bromet, the chairman of the Moorland Association whose members manage their land for grouse shooting, the industry has not been hit by the recession as much as reared game shooting this season.

He said: “Unlike pheasants and partridge, red grouse is a completely wild bird, and you only find them in Britain so they’re special and unique.”

Beekeepers who produce “heather honey” from moorlands are hoping to boost production this year after two summers of bad weather led to shortages in the prize food.

Putting beehives out on to moorland in time for the heather blooms helps the bees, which have few other flowering plants to feed on late in the year, enabling them to lay down reserves for the winter and produce the “unique” honey.