Grouse shooting moors dominating UK national parks and worsening climate crisis, charity warns

Biodiversity in the UK is being stifled by the environmental toll of driven grouse shooting estates’ intensive management techniques, writes Harry Cockburn

Grouse moor at Bamford Edge in the Peak District (Sam Rose/Rewilding Britain)

More than three-quarters of a million acres of the UK’s national parks are devoted to intensively-managed driven grouse shooting moors which are “contributing to climate breakdown”, new research has revealed.

Ahead of the annual opening of the grouse season on the so-called “glorious twelfth” of August, campaigners have warned these huge tracts of land, totalling an area more than twice the size of Greater London, “keep the land in a degraded state, contribute to climate breakdown, and prevent significant recovery of wildlife”.

The charity, Rewilding Britain, said of the six national parks which contain grouse moors –  found only in Scotland and northern England – almost a third of their combined land area (27 per cent) is devoted to driven grouse shoots.

The organisation is calling for major restoration of these damaged landscapes, starting with government action to rewild 10 per cent of the UK’s national parks.

Grouse moors are intensively managed, with heather regularly burned to produce fresh shoots for young grouse. This burning often damages underlying peat soils – the UK’s single largest carbon sink – releasing carbon and worsening the climate crisis.

This process also prevents the return of trees and a wide range of other vegetation by suppressing natural regeneration, and kills other wildlife including large numbers of insects, preventing the recovery of biodiversity.

Driven grouse moors are closely associated with the illegal persecution of birds of prey, with the RSPB among the organisations calling for a licensing system for shooting estates.

Rare birds including goshawks, hen harriers and eagles are regularly killed near grouse moors, while gamekeepers are legally able to trap animals including stoats, foxes and mountain hares in pursuit of ever-larger grouse numbers. Previous estimates suggest “hundreds of thousands” of animals are killed across the UK each year.

“With over three quarters of a million acres of our national parks devoted to driven grouse moors, the parks are being held back from tackling Britain’s collapsing biodiversity and the climate emergency,” said Rewilding Britain’s policy and campaigns coordinator Guy Shrubsole.

“The Prime Minister’s pledge to protect 30 per cent of Britain’s land for nature – and count national parks towards this total – rings hollow when you realise that vast areas of our national parks are dominated by these nature-impoverished and heavily-managed areas.

“We’re urging ministers to show real leadership by creating wilder national parks and setting up core rewilding areas in each of them – in which driven grouse shoots are phased out, and our precious moors brought back to health.”

The organisation is calling for “wilder national parks”, with a tenth of existing land forming core rewilding areas while allowing further nature recovery across another 50 per cent.

They argue that this would help enrich Britain’s woeful record on biodiversity, and create fresh opportunities for communities and local economies.

The UK is ranked at 180 out of 218 countries for nature, according to the WWF’s Living Planet report, with some 56 per cent of species in decline and 15 per cent threatened with extinction.

Rewilding the parks could “significantly boost green job creation”, Rewilding Britain said.

Data from the charity’s analysis of 23 large-scale rewilding sites in England – including some former driven grouse areas – showed a 47 per cent increase in total numbers of jobs as a result of rewilding.

The Moorland Association, which represents owners and managers of 860,000 acres of moorland in England and Wales managed for red grouse, strongly disputed that existing management techniques were contributing to the climate crisis, and defended burning heather.

Amanda Anderson, director of the association, said: "There is a barrage of evidence produced by eminent scientists which has been presented to government which shows that controlled, cool, winter burning, in the right place for the right reason can actually be helpful to the diversification of vegetation and helps prevent catastrophic wildfires – the biggest threat to moorland.

“Grouse moor managers are wholly committed to their considerable conservation efforts which help protect and enhance the natural world – an ambition we all share.”

She added: “There are significant, scientific examples in the UK which demonstrate what happens when moorland management for the wild red grouse is removed.

“The specialist moorland bird populations decline dramatically driven by growth of scrub vegetation unsuitable for nesting and increases in nest failures due to predators.”

A spokesperson for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, said: "We have set ambitious goals for nature and biodiversity in England in our 25-Year Environment Plan, and our Green Recovery Challenge Fund will provide funding for rewilding projects and communities across the country.

“We support the creation and enhancement of wilder landscapes as part of our broader approach to nature recovery, and will continue to back projects which offer both environmental and economic benefits for our communities.”

Additional reporting by PA.