Thursday marked the start of a four-month window for hunters, mainly men, to go on to our uplands to blast as many red grouse as possible for their pleasure.
But this British tradition comes at a terrible cost.
Our national parks, which are supposedly at the heart of efforts to tackle the climate emergency and boost nature, are dominated by intensively managed grouse moors.
A study by Rewilding Britain found an area more than twice the size of Greater London – 852,000 acres – is devoted to the sport.
Grouse moors make up 44% of the Cairngorms national park, 28% of the North York Moors and a fifth of the Peak District, as well as a quarter of the Yorkshire Dales, 15% of Northumberland national park and 2% of the Lake District.
To boost bird numbers, patches of moorlands are burnt to encourage heather shoots. Scientists say this damages the peat, releases carbon and increases flood risks.
After growing pressure, the Government this year banned burning on protected sites and areas where the peat is deeper than 40cm. But the Climate Change Committee recommends a blanket ban.
Some shooting estates have had to cancel or delay their shoots as the grouse breeding season has been so poor. Hard frosts while the birds were laying has meant fewer were born.
Cold rain in hatching season this summer caused the loss of entire broods.
A spokesman for Bolton Abbey, owned by the Duke of Devonshire, admitted: “We reflect the position nationally, in that grouse prospects are bleak.”
Oh the irony. The management of the moors, which is damaging carbon-rich peatlands, leaves the environment and wildlife increasingly vulnerable to the impact of climate change. Now this includes grouse.
The writing is on the wall for this destructive pastime – that way we can return our national parks back to nature.
