2nd August 2012
AS the grouse shooting season beckons, moorland owners fear an EU spinach ruling threatens the centuries-old tradition.A ban on the only effective bracken control herbicide will change the face of Britain’s countryside, devastate wildlife and destroy land management worth around £100 million a year.So say Moorland Association (MA) members, who are facing the start of the 2012 season, on August 13, with the prospect of ending the successful stewardship of 850,000 acres of precious heather moorland.
The Brussels’ legislation means this is the last summer land can be sprayed with Asulam, leaving vast tracts of countryside vulnerable to massive bracken infestation. MA vice chairman George Winn-Darley, who manages 6,500 acres of North Yorkshire heather moorland, said it was “European bureaucracy gone mad”.
“Without the government-approved chemical, successfully and safely used for 35 years, our countryside and rural livelihoods will suffer very serious consequences,” he said. “This will not only adversely affect biodiversity, including red list endangered species, but radically impact on grouse management, jobs and ultimately the appearance of globally important moors.
“Three quarters of the world’s heather moorland is found in the UK. Without Asulam, we would have already lost 50 per cent of it. Designed to safeguard continentally grown spinach, the ban will be devastating to our rural economy as moorland gives way to the suffocating effects of bracken.
“Grouse breeding will be badly hit, along with the shooting industry, which is worth over £67 million in England alone, creates 42,500 days of work a year and supports over 1,500 jobs. MA members spend vast sums of money managing the moorland habitat. So much is at risk, including 46 upland bird species.”
Game cannot be shot on Sunday, which means the glorious twelfth gives way to the thirteenth this year, with unlucky resonance for moorland managers and conservationists. “May and June have been the wettest on record, bad news for all breeding birds,” said Mr Winn-Darley. “Last year may have been the last good season for our unique wild red grouse.”
The bulk of the country’s moorland lies within key tourist areas of North Yorkshire, Lancashire’s Trough of Bowland, Peak District and the Cumbria/County Durham borders. Much of it has Site of Special Scientific Interest status and, ironically, is protected under European law for plants and birds.
Bracken control on grouse moors has seen another significant benefit, a 60 per cent reduction in the blood-feeding ticks responsible for life-threatening Lyme disease.
“The EU ban is causing furore in UK farming and conservation circles,” added Mr Winn-Darley. “Its legislators seem to be throwing the baby out with the bathwater.”
• Asulam was banned by the EU’s European Standing Committee
on the Food Chain and Animal Health following safety concerns over aeiral spraying by spinach growers in continental countries.
… ends …
Notes to Editors:
For further information please contact Anderson PR Ltd:
Amanda Anderson amanda@andersonpr.co.uk / 0845 458 9786 / 07979 851123 or Karen Barden, ksbarden@aol.com 01539 552366 / 07793 083106.
Free to use high res. images and fact files on bracken and grouse moor management can be found here https://www.moorlandassociation.org/august13th2012.asp
