Grouse season worth £6m a year to Yorkshire Dales, group says

Grouse shooting is worth an estimated £6m a year to the Yorkshire Dales and supports around 50 full-time keepering jobs, according to national park figures cited by the Yorkshire Dales Moorland Group in a new feature on the area’s shooting community. Published on 4 September as the season gathers pace, the piece argues the season’s benefits run well beyond the moor, with Dales grouse now reaching the menus of top restaurants.

How many jobs does the grouse season support?

The figures, which the group attributes to the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, put around 50 full-time-equivalent grouse keepering jobs within the national park. Shoot days add the equivalent of a further 95 to 100 full-time roles across beating, flanking, loading, picking-up and catering, with around 350 shoot days across the Dales in a normal season.

That work flows into village shops, pubs, garages and game dealers through the autumn, at exactly the time of year when tourist trade begins to fall away.

More than money on the moor

The feature argues the season’s value cannot be counted in wages alone. Beating lines in the Dales often span three generations of the same family, and for older regulars a day on the hill can be the only company of the week, a working antidote to the isolation that runs through many upland communities.

The Yorkshire Dales Moorland Group is part of the Regional Moorland Groups network, set up to tell the story of the keepers, families and businesses behind Britain’s managed moorland.

Why does the community case matter now?

The picture the group paints lands in a season when the value of moorland management and game shooting is under active debate, with Defra’s call for evidence on gamebird release and shooting open until 1 November and Scotland’s muirburn licensing scheme beginning on 15 September. Evidence of what the season sustains, in jobs and in community life, is exactly what the sector is being asked to show.

What happens next?

The red grouse season runs to 10 December, and the group will continue profiling the people behind the Dales season through the autumn. The full feature can be read on the Regional Moorland Groups website, linked below.