Highland grouse managers provide ‘magnanimous public service’, says BASC
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Today is the day country sports fans celebrate as The Glorious Twelfth, since it marks the start of the grouse shooting season across the Highlands and beyond.
The term ‘glorious’ was traditionally used to describe grouse shooting’s sporting prowess, although as the British Association for Shooting and Conservation have it, these days it is often used to describe the "litany of year-round benefits associated with grouse management."
BASC’s political and press officer in Scotland, Ross Ewing, said: “Grouse moors across the Highlands are brimming with a diverse range of upland wildlife at this time of year.
"This includes threatened waders like lapwing and curlew; iconic game birds like red and black grouse; mesmerising mammals like mountain hare and red deer; and incredible raptors like the hen harrier and the golden eagle.
"The biodiversity on Scotland’s grouse moors is quite astounding.
“It is important to remember that Scotland’s iconic heather landscape – which is a significant carbon sink and home to this agglomeration of upland wildlife – is managed and maintained at no expense to the taxpayer.
"Instead, private investment by land owners and dedicated management by gamekeepers keeps this unique habitat thriving.
"What these custodians of the countryside provide is a magnanimous public service, and this is all too often ignored by those intent on seeing an end to grouse shooting just because it suits their divisive agenda."
He stresssed: "Entire communities are also dependent on grouse shooting. In many places, the Glorious Twelfth signals the start of a much-needed extension to the summer tourism season, which in turn provides rural businesses with an economic lifeline in the Autumn months.
"After the hardships of Covid-19, this lifeline will be fundamental to the survival of rural business."
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