Be careful what you wish for: a grouse moor without its keepers

“A serious moorland fire is currently being fought by the fire brigade and gamekeepers.” How wonderful it was that the news saw fit to mention that keepers were at the front of the battle to save habitat. They are experienced in back-burning and fire control, due to burning to give the correct habitat and the fire breaks that are so important with ever-warmer summers being the future.

I wonder what certain television celebrities think of this? They are so quick to condemn and criticise our moorland keepers; God forbid they would praise or even acknowledge these bastions of this special and unique habitat and its inhabitants. I despair at the likes of well-known and knowledgeable wildlife people whose blinkered attitude fails to see what happens to our moors when keepers are removed.

What Langholm proved about grouse moor management

Langholm proved beyond doubt the conservation benefits of grouse moor management, yet the obvious hatred of grouse shooting by certain high-profile individuals far outweighs their concern for curlew, golden plover, lapwings and a host of other red and amber list species that ride high on the back of keepered moors.

May I draw your attention to a book by Mary Colwell called Beak, Tooth and Claw: Living with Predators in Britain. It is a must-read for every gamekeeper and those opposed to shooting alike. Mary asks for an understanding of the complex relationship between human interests, conservation of certain species and predator control – or bear the consequences.

Surely a management method that benefits species in dire trouble is the best approach, and that benefit when scientifically backed up should be at worst applauded, at best grant aided. Europe’s wealthiest pressure group, the RSPB, has received countless thousands of pounds for its largely failed projects (such as £244,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund for black grouse), yet if you wish to see a wealth of our rarer moorland species it is to a grouse moor you must go, not RSPB moor reserves.

I have had a total of four days’ grouse shooting in my 71 years and will not shoot them again. Each day was a rare treat that I will never forget. The scenery, diversity of wildlife, excitement and beauty of these birds as they come towards you. It is a bird that is only found in the UK and Ireland, a bird with a wonderful natural history that is loved by no one more than the keepers who protect them and Guns who harvest them.

Why Ireland’s hen harriers are vanishing without a keeper in sight

Fingers are continually pointed at grouse management being the cause of hen harrier decline. Historically, I am sure it was, along with other raptor species, but there is never any mention of the countless species also in decline that are only to be found thriving where a grouse keeper is there to protect their wellbeing.

The interesting thing is that in Ireland hen harriers have declined by over 50% in 25 years (Irish Post, February 2024) – and there wasn’t a keeper in sight. It is further estimated that should the current rate of decline continue, they will be extinct in a further 25 years.

Here they blame forestry planting, farming and human encroachment, with little emphasis put on predation. I have only seen one nest, again in Ireland. Three plump chicks on the ground surrounded by the remnants of prey that the parent birds had carried to their young. It was being carefully monitored and three days later a fox did what so many keepers are being blamed for.

In truth, there will be no forestation where grouse moors exist, there will be a range of healthy heather ages providing harriers and grouse alike with short in which to hunt and tall in which to nest. Sheep numbers and farming practices will be sympathetic and most important of all, predators will be controlled.

Overpredation and the loss of a shootable surplus

The problem facing the grouse moors is that of overpredation by protected species, no shootable surplus, no grouse moor and the inevitable loss of so many species in just as much – if not more than – trouble than the precious hen harrier.

All I would say to those preaching hatred of grouse moors is “be careful about what you wish for”. The end of grouse management will spell an eventual end to curlew, golden plover, snipe, black game, red grouse and perhaps the very hen harriers that our wildlife “experts” value above all other things.

Just remember that if our grouse keepers disappear, so will many other species including red grouse. There is a high likelihood that they will eventually disappear from Ireland. Should the UK take the same path then this wonderful bird will one day become extinct – and not just in the UK and Ireland, but worldwide.

David Whitby has 46 years’ experience in deer management and gamekeeping.