The Unsung Heroes of the Glorious 12th

By Duncan Johnson

England –-(Ammoland.com)- Grouse shooting is shooting on a grand, sweeping scale. The speed and agility of the birds, the breath-taking majesty of the landscapes, the centuries of countryside tradition.

Maybe it’s unsurprising that when we talk about the benefits grouse shooting brings to countryside we speak in similarly grand, sweeping terms.

70% of England’s upland Sites of Special Scientific Interest are managed grouse moors. Landscape scale conservation means internationally threatened wader species are 3.5 times more likely to raise a chick to fledging on moors managed by gamekeepers. £100m invested annually in conservation by grouse shoots in England, Wales and Scotland. Tens of millions of pounds invested in remote rural communities every year by moorland managers and travelling grouse shooters.

But perhaps we risk getting lost in these numbers. Last Sunday gamekeepers and their families reminded us of the human face behind the statistics, as they marched through Edzell, in Angus. Escorted by pipes and drummers, these proud countrymen and women, children in tow, captured all that is great about grouse shooting. Real people, real families, exemplifying decades …Read the Rest

Source:: AmmoLand