The Financial Times ran a story yesterday discussing how the grouse shooting industry in Scotland is under pressure and feels ‘encircled’.
It features quotes from the gamekeeper and estate manager on Lochan Estate in Strathbraan – which is currently serving a three-year General Licence restriction after the discovery of a dead hen harrier found in an illegally-set trap (see here). The gamekeeper, Colin McGregor, blames wind farms for the high number of satellite-tagged golden eagles that routinely ‘disappear’ in suspicious circumstances or are found poisoned, trapped & shot on grouse moors.
There are also quotes from Ross McEwing of Scottish Land & Estates, who argues that the recent rise in offences against birds of prey relates to the illegal laundering of peregrines rather than moorland management.
Really, Ross? That’s disingenuous posturing if ever I saw it. The peregrine laundering offences took place in spring 2021. Since then, there has been the shooting of a golden eagle (here), the suspicious disappearance of a satellite-tagged hen harrier (here), the shooting of a buzzard (here),the poisoning of a red kite (here), the shooting of a peregrine (here), the shooting of an osprey (here), the suspicious disappearance of a satellite-tagged golden eagle (here), the discovery of a mutilated golden eagle in a carrier bag (here), the suspicious disappearance of another satellite-tagged hen harrier (here), a pole-trapped peregrine (here), the discovery of poisoned baits (here), the shooting of a sparrowhawk (here), the shooting of a red kite (here), the poisoning of another red kite (here), a shotgun attack on a goshawk nest (here), the shooting of another red kite (here), the shooting of ravens and the stamping on one of them (here)…there are probably more incidents, these are just off the top of my head. A considerable number of these offences were linked to grouse moor management.
As I told the Financial Times journalist, “Pretending the extent of these crimes is negligible is the mark of an industry desperately trying to ‘greenwash’ its shameful reputation“.
The article, written by Simeon Kerr, is reproduced below:
Scotland’s ‘sport of kings’ hit by extreme weather and land reform
Plumes of smoke roll along the brown patchwork of upland moors on Lochan Estate as its gamekeepers burn heather to regenerate leaves for the red grouse. The hut, where guests break from shooting for lunch, stands eerily empty.
Clients, who come from as far as the US and pay £216 per brace, or pair of birds, bagged a record 5,400 grouse over 22 days at the estate in Perthshire, central Scotland in 2017. This year, a late cold snap and fewer insects cut the population, meaning no shooting.
“We could tell in the summer that there weren’t enough brooding pairs; you could see grouse that had lost their young,” said Colin McGregor, who has worked as the estate’s gamekeeper for 37 years. “This business is up and down.”
With just four days left of the season, the same story has echoed around nearby estates and beyond as low stock combines with growing calls for land reform and resistance to shooting to put pressure on the traditional “sport of kings”.
Since the “glorious 12th” that kicked off the season as usual in August, Scottish estates had held about 30 days of driven grouse shooting, said Ross Ewing, moorland director at business group Scottish Land & Estates — a “pitiful” amount compared with the 2,000-3,000 during a good year across the 100-plus estates that host driven shoots.
Extreme, unpredictable weather associated with climate change was creating challenges across the rural landscape, including hitting the breeding success of ground-nesting birds, he said.
Stretching across 10,000 acres of high ground, Lochan’s sporting interests are underpinned by other revenue streams including a wind farm and agriculture.
But McGregor said the lack of business was putting the livelihoods of three families at risk, affecting dozens of casual staff employed as loaders, pickers-up and caterers, and dampening demand for local hotels.
The shooting industry says its activity sustains rural life, but mounting opposition to blood sport and demands to reform national land ownership have left it feeling encircled.
Research published by the British Association of Shooting and Conservation in July showed shooting in Scotland added 14,100 jobs and £760mn to the economy, which is estimated at £218bn including oil and gas.
But Revive, which campaigns for grouse moor reform, cited a Scottish Land & Estates report that found country sports provided little more than 1,000 direct jobs, despite estates taking up 57 per cent of rural Scotland.
“A transition away from grouse shooting is urgently needed — the sooner the better for our people, wildlife and environment, said Max Wiszniewski, Revive campaign director. He called for community-led ownership driven by nature-based industries such as peatland restoration, wildlife tourism and forestry.
The polarised debate around land use in Scotland, where fewer than 500 people own half of private land, is no more vigorous than around the vast tracts of grouse moorland.
Bordering Lochan Estate are large plots owned by Guy Hands, the private equity investor who is developing sustainable forestry, and Oxford university’s endowment fund, where the moorland is left to grow wild.
The arrival of “natural capital” investors pursuing rewilding projects for philanthropy or forestry and peatland restoration to sell carbon credits has lifted land valuations, making grouse shooting increasingly uneconomic.
As McGregor oversaw the burning of heather, known as muirburn, a golden eagle circled high above the ashen moor. The fate of raptors is another subject dividing Scots, with many pushing for tighter regulation to protect birds of prey from illegal killing.
Research by the Scottish government in 2017 found that one-third of satellite-tagged golden eagles had died in suspicious circumstances around grouse moors.
McGregor said the prevalence of birds of prey countered such concerns, blaming wind farms for deaths. Pointing to historically low levels of wildlife crime, Ewing said the recent rise in raptor offences related to illegal laundering of peregrine falcons, rather than moorland management.
Criticism “suits a narrative — many are opposed to hunting and, particularly, driven game bird shooting”, he added.
But Ruth Tingay, a conservation campaigner, said reported crimes were the “tip of the iceberg”, citing continuous reports of shot, trapped and poisoned raptors as well as the rarity of wind turbine strikes.
“Pretending the extent of these crimes is negligible is the mark of an industry desperately trying to ‘greenwash’ its shameful reputation,” she said. “There are huge gaps in the distribution of breeding species like golden eagles and hen harriers in areas intensively managed for driven grouse shooting.”
In early 2022, Lochan was hit by a three-year loss of its general license to control wild birds after allegations of wildlife crime. McGregor, who denies any wrongdoing, called for a neutral ombudsman to hear appeals against sanctions relating to the growing number of regulations.
“There should also be some recognition of the good we do for curlews and lapwings — all critically endangered. Grouse moors are one of the few places they are thriving,” he said.
The Scottish National party government has been legislating for land reform and tighter regulation of estate management as it balances tradition with advocacy for nature and climate policy.
It is implementing muirburn licensing, in recognition of how burning heather cuts wildfire risk by managing the fuel load on moorland while seeking to protect peatlands crucial for carbon storage.
A separate government licensing scheme this year threatened the removal of shooting rights if raptor persecution occurred anywhere on an estate’s boundaries, but was watered down within months.
Tingay said it was a “middle ground step” that, if found not fit for purpose, would fuel demand for an outright ban.
Back on the Lochan estate, in the absence of shooting parties, the team engaged in the daily tasks of maintaining infrastructure and managing the moor.
Richard Stewart, estate manager, was philosophical about the poor season.
“You just have to suck it up and keep going in the hope you can hit a good year to reimburse the investment,” he said.
ENDS
Wild Justice’s latest petition calling for a ban on driven grouse shooting currently has 28,000 signatures. It needs 100,000 to trigger a parliamentary debate in Westminster. If you’d like to sign it, please click HERE.
Raptor Persecution UK 
hammer the suspect and guilty estates to the point of bankruptcy and some.
they are only interested in ££££ not sportsmanship.
squeeze them till they bleed as this is all they understand.
they think they are above the law.
What a great title to the piece. Therein lies the clue to why this obscenity still continues in 2024.
Some good news for a miserable day.
I see the keeper accepts the reality of climate change. So burning the heather and exposing the peat beneath to erosion and oxidation, along with the draining of peat bogs and the absence of trees must all concern him?
Funny that climate change is affecting the number of shooting days but shoots are not in favour of taking the measures that would mitigate climate change! Like a lot of landowners/farmers they don’t seem to see or are ignoring the effects of their land management. And as to the likes of lapwing “thriving” on their estates, they never give any figures. More like they are hanging on there in less favorable habitat because their preferred wet grasslands have been “improved” for the silage industry and there’s nowhere else for them to go…
Exactly, they always point to species they don’t kill as somehow being a result of their ‘conservation efforts’. The truth is, if Lapwings were found to impact grouse numbers in any way (even just a suspicion of some potential parasite or infection or just competing for food) then the gamekeepers would wipe them out if they could.
The reality is, Curlew and Lapwing are not a threat to grouse and you can be certain that no extra effort is made to provide time, effort or money to conserving them on estates that are already complaining of a lack of customers.
The curlew safari type thing that some estate are doing in England are very interesting to me. On the one hand it’s no bad thing if an estate can make a few quid – it may incentivise / promote some varied habitat management. But on the other hand when I see (as I have) photos of the keepers hosting and I just happen to know things as 100% fact (yes, that’s just an anonymous commentor saying it – deniers are entitled to point out) about the conduct of a certain couple of individuals over the years – it is hard not to become cynical about the whole thing. Is it always a charade? No, probably not. But in other cases , 100% yes it is – and a very cynical one at that. And sadly it has nothing to do with whether the keeper(s) is a “good man” in wider realms of life. I wish all the “killer” keepers were actually all bad people too. It would make things easier – for me anyway.
Peregrines laundered by (checks notes) a part-time gamekeeper – they’re the ones Ross McEwing was referring to, I suppose?
Undoubtedly these are the ones he’s referring to. No doubt they will seek to get mileage out of this tale for many a year, whilst being sparing with the detail which reveals the truth of the matter.
As a recent but frequent international visitor to the Scottish Highlands and Islands, and a former (reformed) hunter (100% against any shooting of wildlife) I can tell you that my visits are to see wildlife, scenery and the wonderful people and culture of Scotland…not to come and destroy some living beings.
and another point…if the grouse are “livestock” then they have to be managed and killed in a humane manner (not driven to shooting pegs) and if not livestock then they are “wildlife” and therefore subject to wildlife protection…how does Scottish law (and tax law) classify grouse???
and another commenter made a very valid point re linking burning of grouse moors and climate change…it is devastating to wildlife not to mention the amount of carbon released…should be banned (we have a similar problem in Ireland with people burning moors)
“and another point…if the grouse are “livestock” then they have to be managed and killed in a humane manner (not driven to shooting pegs) and if not livestock then they are “wildlife” and therefore subject to wildlife protection…how does Scottish law (and tax law) classify grouse???”
The British Establishment have had centuries to refine the laws which protect their interests.
Briefly, some birds are legally classified as both ‘game’ and ‘wild bird’, and can be ‘taken’ (their euphemism for being shot at) at certain times of the year, while at other times of the year they are legally re-classified as ‘livestock’ and therefore become ‘owned’.
This allows ‘owners’ to do things to these ‘wild birds’ which would otherwise be illegal to do to any other ‘wild birds’, but prevents anyone else from doing anything to them. And it also allows ‘owners’ to kill certain otherwise-protected ‘wild birds’ to ‘protect’ their ‘owned’ ‘livestock’. But the law then removes ‘ownership’ – and therefore the protection granted to ‘livestock’ – to protect the erstwhile ‘owners’ from legal liability for any cruelty to ‘livestock’ and also from any damage their erstwhile ‘livestock’ might do.
In addition, because these birds are classified as ‘game’, they are also denied the protection granted to other wild birds, so they can be ‘taken’. And, when they also happen to be non-native birds, they can be imported by the tens of millions (without license, too, before membership of the EU, where exporting countries are required to obtain a license (Pheasant and Red-legged Partridge are classified as ‘poultry’ by the EU, but are not differentiated from chickens and turkeys in the numbers)).
The network of such laws is vast and confusing…
Principally, The Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011, and its application to game birds and the prevention of poaching:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2011/6/notes/division/3/2?view=plain
https://www.nature.scot/doc/general-licence-birds-gl042024-take-red-grouse-using-certain-methods-order-administer-medication-or
https://www.nature.scot/professional-advice/protected-areas-and-species/licensing/species-licensing-z-guide/red-grouse-and-licensing
It is all similar to how lead levels are legally excluded from ‘game’ meat, but not other meats.
The whining complaints of the grouse shooting industry and their paranoid delusions about what is causing it’s decline are starting to wear a bit thin now. They cannot go on using the protection of their livelihoods and local economy in the face of the raw facts.
I can’t find figures for shotgun licences in Scotland but in England & Wales its c.560k, which is c.1% of the population. Take away the number of people who only ever shoot clays for sport and people keeping family ‘heirloom’ shotguns, and the fact most people don’t shoot every week, and even fewer travel to Scotland for the grouse, then it’s easy to see that there simply aren’t enough ‘customers’ to sustain this industry.
Compare that with 1.2m RSPB members, 5.3m National Trust members, 900k members of the various Wildlife Trusts, c.1.7m members of various UK caravan and camping clubs, 93k registered canoeists, 7.4m cyclists and the countless millions who just want a nice holiday somewhere spectacular and beautiful, with the chance of seeing an Golden Eagle, an otter or a seal or just a lovely view.
If you are ignoring all of these and depending on the tiny number of grouse shooters to keep your rural economy going then I’d say you are doomed. And if your argument is that all these things can happen as well as grouse shooting then I’d say you are wrong. Grouse moors look horrible. They have little wildlife on them. The people listed above don’t want to see traps and butts, and feel that everything they came to see is being persecuted and shot and poisoned by people who resent them, and look down on them because they are not shooters or into killing things for fun.
The driven grouse shooting industry is like a bunch of minnows in a drying out puddle. They are still there, just, but it won’t be long…
As one who rides a mountain bike (in the valleys) I agree. The zebra stripes of burned woodland and the absence of trees repel me. I will go elsewhere.
Well said everyone class !!! I think you’ve hit every point nerve sinew covered everything. The burning of heather still amuses me barren moors flooding on lowlands because peat is destroyed and as you said environmental destruction.Allowed in a world committed to climate change complete joke .