Moorland Management

Moorland owners and their staff work hard around the calendar to conserve and improve the heather, which forms such a crucial habitat for ground nesting birds and other wildlife. Time, financial investment, knowledge and skill are all required if a moor is to thrive, and the prime aim is to create a shootable surplus of grouse to provide the income for a wide range of management activities. Apart from such routine tasks as road and butt maintenance, these principally comprise the following:

Sheep management
Predator control
Bracken control
Disease control - louping ill and strongylosis
Heather re-seeding
Heather beetle control

Effective moorland management is vital for the encouragement and wellbeing of many bird species. In 2000, a paper was written as a comparison of bird life on a managed moor compared to that of an unmanaged moor. Please click here to read the paper.