News

Yorkshire grouse shoots sign up to environmental agreement

28th July 2006

With the Glorious Twelfth just two weeks away English Nature is celebrating bagging two new management agreements that will enhance the management of another 6000 hectares of prime grouse shoots over internationally important heather moorland to benefit wildlife.

Agreements have been signed covering estates in Nidderdale on the edge of the Pennines and Spaunton estate in the North York Moors. The heather moorland in these areas has the highest possible designation for nature conservation, being internationally recognised for both the plants and breeding birds. The agreements will build on the considerable contribution that management for grouse shooting over the last 150 years has made and is making to the conservation of heather moorland and a range of nationally and internationally important species in England.

Peter Welsh of English Nature explains: “We’ve worked closely with the Moorland Association to come up with practical and consistent land management guidance and an approach that is sympathetic to the needs of the wildlife on sites but allows gamekeepers and farmers to do their jobs. In general terms the approach allows for an agreed amount of heather burning to maintain or restore diversity and richness across the moors, blocking up drainage ditches to stop the moorland drying up and practical measures necessary to keep grazing animals on the estate. It’s a tribute to the hard work of Andrew Craven and David Clayden the two conservation officers who spent many hours working up the agreement with the estate teams.”

English Nature believes the addition of Simon Bostock’s Dallowgill estate in Nidderdale and George Winn-Darley’s Spaunton estate to those areas with agreed moorland management plans will secure the future for the dramatic heath and bog vegetation and beautiful breeding birds like curlew, golden plover, merlin, short-eared owl and the red grouse.

Dr Welsh continued: “We are delighted to sign up to these two agreements. We hope it will send a clear message to other moor owners and managers that we can reach a practical agreement that works. We are already in negotiations to develop agreements with other estates and are really keen to see this process continue.”

Simon Bostock, one of the estate owners and Chairman of the Moorland Association, said: “It’s really important that any agreement signed with English Nature takes into consideration the joint needs of land management and nature conservation particularly on heather moorland managed for grouse that is also a Site of Special Scientific Interest. I believe the agreement I have signed does both and is carefully tailored to Dallowgill’s particular needs. It represents months of work by the Moorland Association, English Nature specialists and my own team at Dallowgill.”

Mr Bostock continued: “Our vision now is for a working partnership with English Nature and its successor Natural England which will see Dallowgill qualifying for favourable status designation over its entire 3200 hectares. At the same time we will be striving to maintain the moor’s productivity, as far as we can, both in terms of sheep grazing and grouse production. That way we will be preserving a viable working estate, as well as the livelihoods of those who live there, and the wildlife that thrives upon it.”

With its Chairman taking the lead in signing up to the new template agreements the Moorland Association is enthusiastically promoting the scheme amongst member estates.

George Winn-Darley added: “The process of agreeing the plan at Spaunton has greatly increased my understanding of English Nature’s objectives and their understanding of mine. I am particularly pleased with the plan’s ‘beat’ maps that set out the burning regime for each of the Estate’s management units. I now look forward to implementing the plan in continued dialogue with Natural England in a way that supports grouse production as part of a healthy moor for its plants, animals, soil, visitors and other special features.”

This news was celebrated at the Game Fair on Friday (28 July 2006) at a reception hosted by Sir Martin Doughty, Chair of Natural England, which will carry on the work of English Nature, Countryside Agency and RDS from October.

Sir Martin said: “This shows how we can work with partners to make a step change to protect and improve the natural environment for the benefit of current and future generations. We in Natural England would like to see much more partnership working with key land managers like this in the future.”