11th August 2014
A NATIONAL spotlight on hen harriers starts the grouse shooting season with England’s moorland owners committed to a £52.5 million annual spend on conservation and seriously threatened species. As the Glorious Twelfth is celebrated on Tuesday, the industry’s year-round battle to safeguard 860,000 acres of heather moorland for wild red grouse has benefitted some of […]
6th August 2014
The British Association for Shooting and Conservation, CLA, Countryside Alliance, Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, The National Gamekeepers’ Organisation, and the Moorland Association all want to see more hen harriers nesting in England and are calling for Defra to publish a plan for their recovery across England. Three events have been planned by bird enthusiasts […]
28th July 2014
After a very successful pilot last year stocking fresh red grouse in two London stores it was hoped that grouse – a wild game bird unique to Britain – would be on the shelves again this season rolled-out to 40 stores, but plans have had to be delayed. M&S has said it has been working […]
28th July 2014
An HM Government e-petition has been posted that calls for the publication of the Hen Harrer Joint Recovery Plan which seeks to boost hen harrier numbers in England whilst ensuring continued viable driven grouse shooting and the environmental, social and economic benefits it brings. The Moorland Association backs the Plan and calls for it to […]
30th June 2014
The Moorland Association(MA)Director, Amanda Anderson, has responded to an open letter from RSPB Chief Exec., Mike Clarke. The MA feels that further regulation of grouse moors will not see the improvements the RSPB hopes for, but challenges the RSPB to work with the MA and others to define what successful upland land management looks like […]
30th June 2014
RARE pictures of merlin chicks have been released by the organisation committed to protecting the threatened species. Britain’s smallest birds of prey are bucking a national decline and breeding well on heather moorland managed by gamekeepers for wild red grouse. A recent independent study for the Moorland Association (MA) found there were four times more […]
21st March 2014
BRITAIN’S smallest birds of prey are flying in to nest on English grouse moors which have helped stave off their downfall. A new study commissioned by the Moorland Association (MA) has found dramatic gains in merlin populations on globally recognised heather moorland managed by gamekeepers for wild red grouse. Consultant ecologists, Penny Anderson Associates, have […]
20th January 2014
The Moorland Association (MA), an acclaimed national organisation protecting over 850,000 acres of globally recognised heather moorland, has appointed its first ever Director. The MA has brought a woman to the helm for the first time in its 29-year history, to replace its founding secretary. Amanda Anderson, 42, of Austwick, near Lancaster, will be looking […]
28th November 2013
Andrew Walker, Yorkshire Water Catchment Manager, and grouse moor gamekeeper, Kevin Benson, exchange positive feedback on a successfully blocked gully on Keighley Moor. The water pools created by the remedial work provide drinking water for ground nesting birds and insect habitat, whilst the slower water movement and profusion of sphagnum mosses should help lower the […]
7th August 2013
AS the ‘glorious twelfth’ looms, the £67 million pound English grouse shooting industry is hailed for far-reaching contributions to conservation and the economy. Predicting a good season, owners of globally recognised heather moorland say without shooting income, vital ecosystems – and over 1,500 jobs – would be lost. While serious wildlife and habitat declines were […]
75% of Europe’s remaining upland heather moorland is found in the UK – but this area declined alarmingly over the latter part of the last century. The Moorland Association was set up in 1986 to coordinate the efforts of moorland owners and managers to halt this loss, particularly in England and Wales.
HEN HARRIER SURVIVAL RATE NEARLY DOUBLE IN RECOVERY SCHEME Survival rates for hen harriers reared and released through an innovative scheme to help the recovery of the species are better than for wild birds, it has been reported, as the trial enters its final year. Data from satellite-tagged hen harriers given a boost in the Brood Management Scheme trial shows the […]
Management of game assurance scheme transferring from BGA to Aim to Sustain The infrastructure of the assurance scheme built by British Game Assurance (BGA) will be transferred to Aim to Sustain, it was announced today (Monday 16 October). The transfer should be completed later in the Autumn and in the meantime, the scheme remains unchanged and open to new members. Following completion, Aim to Sustain will take […]
