Moorland closures bring fair game for shooting parties

The exclusion zone imposed on moors during the foot-and-mouth crisis has provided an unexpected boost to the grouse-shooting season which starts next month.

Stocks of the birds are 30 per cent higher than last year in some areas, a survey of England and Wales by the Moorland Association shows. The absence of walkers on the moors, has allowed grouse to breed and raise chicks in peace, meaning higher numbers of the birds have survived.

The season, which opens on 12 August, comes after the worst decade for grouse in living memory. There had been fears that the coming season would have to be cancelled because of foot-and-mouth restrictions, but they subsided last week when the Government relaxed the rulesto allow shooting parties on the moors. Shooting will be allowed outside a 3-kilometre radius of infected premises, 30 days after they have been disinfected.

The Moorland Association believes that shooting parties will enjoy a plentiful supply of targets. The association surveyed members over 750,000 acres of heather moorland and found grouse stocks were between 25 and 30 per cent up on last year on many estates. Prospects were said to be good in Northumberland, Durham, Yorkshire, Cumbria and Derbyshire, but Lancashire and Wales reported a fall in stocks.

An association spokeswoman said: "Grouse nest on the ground so if people are walking their dogs, birds get frightened and will desert the nest, perhaps not coming back to find their fledglings." She added that stocks had also been helped by a cold winter that killed parasites and a mild spring that helped chicks survive.

The association, which had lobbied the Government to relax foot-and-mouth restrictions, estimates that the shooting season pumps £12.5m directly into the rural economy. Supporters say it is important for conservation because it encourages landowners to preserve the heather uplands that provide breeding habitats for a variety of birds.