I live not far from a grouse moor in North Derbyshire. A friend from the same village from which I originated and someone I went to school with was the third generation Grouse Keeper on the moor. His son has now taken over making him the fourth generation. I wonder how much longer he will be there. I used to attend the shoots each year to work the dogs and help out with management in other ways. I have sort of retired from it when my friend retired. Un-keepered moors hold very few grouse due to predation and lack of heather management; heather being the staple diet of these hardy birds. They cannot be reared and bred like pheasants but only maintained in the wild. Un-keepered moors are poor in wildlife of any kind but a well managed grouse moor is alive with a diverse range of species be they birds, insects, plants or reptiles. If grouse shooting goes a huge amount of habitat management, currently at no cost to the tax payer, will be lost along with the species that thrive there. Lagopus…..
