News from The Moorland Association

1000 acres of barren land – 800 football pitches - in the Peak District National Park will turn purple again for the first time in living memory, thanks to members of the Moorland Association. A vast programme of heather re-seeding carried out 5 years ago has seen the hills once more cloaked in internationally rare heather. One new purple patch (100 acres) will be seen by millions of motorists passing through Derbyshire on the A57 ‘Snake Pass’ road during the summer holidays. Just four individual birds were recorded on this ground before the work started to get the heather back, but the numbers have now exploded with over 40 Meadow Pipits, 13 Lapwing, 14 of the highly threatened Curlew, plus Golden Plover, Skylark, Snipe and Red Grouse all taking full advantage of the new habitat. The nesting season this year was bursting with bird song of 19 different species after decades of silence.

Geoff Eyre, a Moorland Association member who has an honorary doctorate from Liverpool University for Moorland Restoration Ecology, was responsible for carrying out the pioneering heather re-seeding work. He said: “Too often we take the heather moorland in the north of England for granted, but globally it is much rarer than rain forest and plays a vital role in storing carbon. It is under constant threat of being lost – often due to wildfires during hot summer spells. Many of the birds that have come to breed on the newly created areas, depend on heather moorland with its mosaic of heather, bilberry, cowberry, cross-leafed heath, cotton grass and Sphagnum, as a last refuge. The Curlew is a very good example having this year been categorised as one of Britain’s most threatened birds. The work has been largely paid for privately by Moorland Association members and partially funded through Government schemes in a bid to halt the loss of such an important habitat.”

Dr David Baines, Director of Uplands Research with the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust said, “Our scientific research shows that in conservation terms grouse moors deliver very significant biodiversity benefits. With hill farming in decline, red grouse shooting is one of the few remaining land uses that supplies the two crucial ingredients needed for effective conservation – consistent investment and sympathetic management.”

Edward Bromet, Chairman of the Moorland Association said: “The population of Red Grouse on the new areas will eventually build up enough to sustain shooting, demonstrating the enormous long-term investment that grouse moor owners are willing to plough in to the uplands. The benefits of improving the ground for a large range of bird species is clearly evident and this work in the Peak District alone has contributed around 6% to UK targets to regenerate our iconic heather moorlands……. but we have a long way to go if this habitat, with all its wonderful birds, is not to be lost forever.”

The Red Grouse is a wild and sought after game bird only found in Britain and where there is healthy heather to eat and in which to nest. Elsewhere across the North of England on established heather-clad moors, the majority of areas are looking forward to a good shooting season because the grouse have bred well during the late, but warm and dry Spring. A good population of grouse means more days of shooting can be offered to visitors, which in turn bring in vital income to fund conservation work and support the local rural economy to the tune of Ł12.5 Million in England.

Grouse Shooting Prospects from the Moorland Association (England only)
The wild Red Grouse, has a cyclical pattern to its population – going from boom to crash over 4-7 years. Not all areas are on the same cycle giving a ‘patchy’ picture across the country.

The North Northumberland grouse population is low and there may not be enough to shoot this year, but there should be a healthy stock to breed next year allowing the population to steadily climb again.
The Northern Pennines, had some big broods earlier on in the breeding season but some chicks have perished in the cold, wet weather in the third week of June. Second broods have been laid very late put off by June’s cold and wet chill. Curlew and Lapwing have bred very well. Breeding later, Grey Partridge and the newly increasing populations of rare Black Grouse have not been helped by poor weather in early July. Overall a similar programme of shooting days to last year is planned – a good season.

Central Cumbria moors After many years where the low population has grown steadily with very little shooting, this year grouse have bred well but some where very late due again to the late Spring and cold wind that blew for 6 weeks. Small numbers of chicks have survived per clutch of up to 14 eggs, but with more pairs breeding this year the population has had a boost and a shooting programme will re-start which is very good news for the local economy.

Numbers in the Yorkshire Dales remain optimistic as the grouse here are at the top of their population cycle and the Spring weather was almost perfect for grouse and waders alike. Shooting days are planned across Wensleydale, Swaledale and Coverdale between August 12th and December 10th ploughing millions into the management of the landscape and economy of the dales. In addition Curlew, Lapwing and even Grey Partridge have bred very well but there are alarming reports that far less Curlew returned this year from their over-winter grounds on estuaries.

Nidderdale moors report a strong start to the breeding season with no adverse weather even if rather cool at times. Some smaller broods are again being reported meaning chick survival is not excellent but with a healthy breeding population there will be a shootable surplus of grouse for a good shooting season.
The North York Moors. The drier and warmer East of the country usually escapes much of the poor, wet weather, but the population seems to be on the whole lower than the Yorkshire Dales. There is a split between the moors on the western side expecting to have a strong shootable surplus to offer a good shooting programme, but the central moors are being more conservative hoping to build stocks up to support driven shooting next year and beyond. A huge amount of additional habitat management has been put into the area over the last 3-4 years and it is hoped that over the next few years the grouse population will respond. Curlew certainly seem to have responded breeding in densities of one pair per 240 acres. Merlin - Britain’s smallest bird of prey – has a traditional strong-hold on grouse moors of the North York Moors, but its breeding success is down for the second year running causing concern, whilst Tawny Owl, Kestrel, Goshawk and even Barn Owl are all thriving.

In the Forest of Bowland, Lancashire, breeding pairs in March remained at an all time low. The moors of the Forest of Bowland have been the strong-hold for England’s breeding Hen Harriers population, but only 8 nested this year, increasing fears that a lack of food may be a problem. There are 806 pairs in the UK, mainly in Scotland, and 176,000 nesting females across Europe.

In the South Pennines, between the Yorkshire Dales and The Peak District National Parks, the indications are that prospects are good because the worst of the rain missed the critical breeding season which killed so many chicks last year in May. The wet weather of June is not thought to have adversely affected the broods – if anything the young birds may have feathered up more quickly. In Derbyshire, there appears to be a spilt between the West and East moors. The eastern moors appear to be able to run 50 -75% of their shooting programme recovering from the last crash in the population in 2005. However, the moors on the west are very low on breeding stock and despite strong broods initially, many chicks seem not to have survived. The western moors are usually hit harder by wet, cold weather but an exponential rise in avian predators such as Goshawks, Buzzards, Ravens, Sparrowhawks and Short Eared Owls are also thought to be having an effect. Only a very limited programme of shooting will go ahead in the western area.

-Ends –

North West region young Climate
Change Champion Jessica Smith,
aged 13, of Southport meets Geoff Eyre
heather moorland restoration expert
for the Moorland Association.

Geoff Eyre will be available for interview on Friday 8th August on the A57 showing off the new purple heather. To arrange an interview please call Amanda Anderson, Anderson PR Ltd on: 0845 458 9786 / 07979 851123

For further information on moorland management and economics visit www.moorlandassociation.org

Grouse prospects for Scotland are available from Katrina Candy, Game and Wildlife Conservancy Trust on: 01828 650779.

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