The Glorious Twelfth, which takes place this coming Friday 12 August, is set for success compared with recent years thanks to better weather throughout the year resulting in a healthier supply of grouse.
The day, which marks the start of the shooting season for red grouse, which brings thousands of visitors to the uplands of Northern England, spending hundreds of thousands of pounds that benefits numerous communities still suffering from the devastating financial impact of the Covid pandemic and previous poor seasons.
Grouse, which live on heather moorland, have been one of the most sought-after gamebirds for over a century. Shooting will proceed through the coming months with many participants travelling from abroad. The season runs until 10th December, but most moors will stop well before that as shooting will only take place when there is a sustainable surplus of birds, and moors therefore determine their own dates, depending on size and stock.
The day and subsequent season has suffered difficulties in recent years due to bad weather impacting bird numbers. No two moors are the same and the height of the moor, the direction it faces and whether it is dry or wet can all impact on the numbers of birds in any one season. Unlike pheasant and partridge, red grouse are a totally wild bird and their numbers cannot be increased by the release of birds reared in captivity.
Red grouse are especially vulnerable to bad weather during the nesting season when eggs and chicks can be lost. As a ground nesting bird, they are also vulnerable to attacks from predators including foxes.
Last season was particularly bad for many moors, mainly due to the very late spring in 2021 which resulted in the heather, a vital dietary lifeline for young chicks, being in bad condition at the critical time for hen grouse laying.
A bad year for grouse and shooting can have huge financial implications for communities in some of the most isolated parts of the country. In a good year, grouse shooting can bring in over £15 million benefiting not only those employed directly, but thousands of other rural businesses including pubs, hotels and restaurants in and around the uplands.
The prospects for this season are looking better for most. The heather last year improved as the summer moved on, resulting in grouse going into winter in a much better condition than expected. This spring, the weather across the uplands has generally been ideal for hatching and chick developing. Cotton grass, a very high quality feed loved by grouse, has also been much more abundant, having been absent on many moors last year.
There are 190 grouse moors in England and Wales that spend a total of over £52 million a year on land management, which benefits some of the UK's most precious bird species including upland waders and curlew. Heather management for grouse shooting is credited for preserving the 75% of the world's remaining heather that is found here in the UK.
Grouse are in incredibly high demand among chefs, with many dubbing it the 'king of game birds'. Tasty, natural and wild, the bird is also low in fat. While those taking part in shoots will take home a brace of grouse to enjoy at home, the bulk of birds will be dispatched to restaurant kitchens all over the country. Many of the grouse shot on the 12 August will be collected from the moor, ready for the dinner table that night. Rules, one of London's oldest restaurants that is famous for its roast grouse, serves it in the traditional way with bread sauce, game chips, watercress and redcurrant jelly.
Adrian Blackmore, Director of the Campaign for Shooting at the Countryside Alliance said: "Grouse shooting plays an incredibly important part in the lives of many who live in our uplands - not just economically, but also socially. It is not just about landowners, employees or individual interests, it is about whole communities. So, when we have a bad season, when only a few days shooting might be possible, or even worse, no shooting takes place at all, it has a devastating impact not only for the thousands of people employed directly on grouse moors, but also the huge number of businesses that depend on shooting such as pubs, hotels and local shops. After a couple of really poor years, the prospects for this season are looking far better for most moors, and that is something to really celebrate".
Rob Mitchell, Headkeeper on a grouse moor in Co Durham said: "Things are looking much more promising this year, as the weather was good when the grouse were nesting and we have been seeing some really healthy broods. On a shoot day I employ a large casual workforce which can change daily from school children to pensioners, including family and friends. The financial benefits are really important to them, as are the social aspects, a day's shooting bringing people together for something they have been looking forward to for months. We have something really special here. Long may it continue, as grouse shooting really can be a lifeline for so many of our remote upland communities."