The grouse shooting season starts on Monday 12 August but local businesses in the north of England may lose millions of pounds of revenue, as many shoot days will be cancelled this year, due to low numbers of red grouse.
While the much-reduced shoot programme is a blow for country sports participants, the real impact will be felt by local businesses in remote rural communities which rely on the income generated by the grouse shooting season, which runs for sixteen weeks, from 12 August to 10 December.
Hotels, pubs, restaurants, game dealers, contractors and other ancillary businesses may this year lose millions of pounds of revenue due to the lack of grouse shooting customers.
One such business, Gilsans of Yorkshire is a supplier of sporting guns, cartridges, clothing and accessories.
Simon Fenwick, managing director of Gilsans, said: “We have already seen a large decrease in our sales due to the lack of grouse shooting this year.
“Sales of country clothing, footwear and ammunition are considerably down, we expect this trend to continue through to October due to the lack of customers that normally travel to our area for the grouse season. This will also have a knock-on effect throughout the year as all the people employed directly and indirectly by the grouse shooting industry will have far less income to spend in our shops. This will be a very challenging year for our business.”
Andrew Gilruth, chief executive of the Moorland Association, said: “The coming season is likely to be very poor and the number of shoot days will be curtailed, but it is a timely reminder that the red grouse is a wild bird. We can protect and improve its habitat, but there is nothing we can do about the weather.”
Red grouse are wild birds and cannot be reared; as such they are at the mercy of mother nature.
The exceptionally wet Spring has made breeding success more difficult this year. Only when there is a healthy surplus of red grouse can they be harvested for shooting.
Andrew Gilruth continued: “Despite the poor prospects for shooting, grouse estates across the country will invest more than £50 million in the conservation of the moorlands which benefits not just red grouse but other ground nesting birds such as the curlew, red grouse, merlin, lapwing and ring ouzel. This investment continues regardless of what the season brings.”
The total value of sporting shooting in England is £7.8 billion, according to the Value of Shooting Report commissioned jointly by 24 rural organisations and published in June by data analysis firm Cognisense.
In North Yorkshire, Farndale, Bransdale and Snilesworth Moors jointly host around 120 days of shooting per year on average, of which there are typically 30 grouse shooting days. The estates have 18 full time staff, while each grouse day employs around 30 people from the local area. Additional staff, including a full-time chef, provide hospitality for guests in the two sporting lodges.
On the North York Moors, the expected loss of income to upland estates is estimated at £2.37m.
Local people employed on a grouse day include beaters, pickers-up, flankers, loaders and caterers. This year they will lose out on approximately £253,500 of income in the North York Moors alone, with the situation replicated across the north of England.
In the North Pennines, one large estate employs around 100 people per day, for four to five days a week for at least 8 weeks as casual staff on the moor, in a good season. Most moors in the region employ 30 – 40 people on every shoot day.
Any curtailment of the shooting season impacts local people, including teenagers and senior citizens, who lose not only the income but in many cases a major boost to their social life.
A poor season will cut the number of seasonal jobs on estates across the north of England, including the Yorkshire Dales, the Peak District and the Forest of Bowland.
In addition, income for pubs, shops and restaurants in these areas will be reduced, due to the lack of grouse shooting visitors.