Around 40 local residents from Sheffield and North Derbyshire have started a campaign to bring local grouse moors in to community ownership.
The group ‘Reclaim Our Moors‘ held its inaugural meeting on 7 June 2025 where campaigners offered the Duke of Rutland £1 to buy Moscar Moor ‘as it is in such a sad and sorry state’.
The group, which includes a number of local councillors, ecologists and campaigner Bob Berzins amongst its membership, was joined by land reform author and campaigner Guy Shrubsole for a visit to nearby Moscar Estate, a grouse moor that Bob wrote about in his guest blog yesterday – here.
The group argues that the grouse moor has been “trashed” by the duke, “who sets it on fire – sending smoke into people’s homes, worsening flood risk downstream and releasing carbon that adds to the climate crisis” and that it has been “scoured of wildlife by gamekeepers who kill anything that could affect gamebird numbers”, according to an article published yesterday by local newspaper The Star (see here).
Moscar Moor isn’t for sale but Reclaim Our Moors is assessing opportunities under the government’s forthcoming ‘Community Right to Buy’ legislation (see here).
The group has already had conversations with the local MP, Olivia Blake, and is taking an interest in the forthcoming Westminster Hall debate on Wild Justice’s 100,000+ signature petition calling for a ban on driven grouse shooting.
I hope Olivia attends the debate and uses the opportunity to highlight the strength of feeling amongst her constituents, to counter the inevitable narrative that pro-grouse shooting MPs will undoubtedly be making about how driven grouse shooting is supposedly welcomed and embraced by local communities.
Much kudos to Reclaim Our Moors, some of whose members have previously been targeted by the grouse shooting industry’s vile astroturfers, Campaign for the Protection of Moorland Communities (C4PMC), which specialises in making personal attacks and smears on anyone who dares to raise questions about the environmental unsustainability and criminality associated with driven grouse moor management. It takes courage to go up against that level of abuse and intimidation and the creation of Reclaim Our Moors is testament to that courage.
Reclaim Our Moors has a website (here) where you can get in touch and in due course find out more about their campaign and how to support it.
Raptor Persecution UK 
Sure he will be tempted by £1
Well done, may you go from strength to strength
Laughable, Typical anti farming and countryside people, A tiny minority who’s knowledge of the countryside could be written on the back of a postage stamp
Liar.
Laugh then, if they pose no trouble to you. Nor to the Duke of Rutland, Duke of Westminster, Duke of Devonshire, Lord Barnard, Duke of Norfolk, Duke of Buccleuch, Lord Dawnay, Duke of Roxburgh, Duke of Northumberland, Sheikh of Dubai, King of the United Kingdom, a Duty-Free magnate, a chicken farmer, a couple of shy Texans, a pub chain owner, a good few Wolves of Wall Street and a few shithouses great and small of Threadneedle Street – not to mention a Tory peer or two and a slack handful of untraceable companies in Lichtenstein, Panama and Jersey…to bring to my mind just the first few…
“From small acorns” etc.
Good luck to “Reclaim Our Moors”
Stephen Holmes you know there isn’t just one way to do ‘the countryside’. Driven shooting hasn’t been around that long in the grand scheme of things (although it’s done plenty of damage in that time). Before it there was a different countryside. Before that, something else. After driven shooting there will be something else again and it’ll be you that has no knowledge of the countryside then.
About time these people who claim to love the countryside, are stopped from ruining it. Too long have hunters of wildlife been allowed to ruin our countryside and destroy anything they don’t approve of. They are a disgrace. Well done to Reclaim our moors. Let’s hope the whole country can get back our badly deprived wildlife and environment
Well said Gisela, I agree with you.
Hi Was going to sign up but when I go on their link it says for he Reclaim our Moors website "Your connection isn’t private"?? Can you check this with them please? thanks Max
[Ed: seems to work fine on my browser, no security issues]
I live in the country side xxxxx xxxxxx Stephen Holmes and for 40 years of horse ownership riding round yomping the moors arguing with gamekeepers land owners. Took trap off a lamb had to leave it with a broken leg took s snare off my own dog who out walking got caught in one bleak lifeless soul less places the moors are you condescending self righteous fool. Well done Derbyshire hopefully this will happen more and more the right people looking after them instead of the xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx