The Year-Round Role of the Grouse Moor Gamekeeper

The new report - 'The Grouse Moor Gamekeeper in England in the Twenty-First Century' – illustrates how the role of a grouse moor gamekeeper involves constant, year-round environmental management, which extends far beyond the four-month grouse shooting season, and is critical for the biodiversity, economy, and social well-being of England's uplands.

Year-Round Environmental Management Activities

Gamekeepers' duties are diverse and perpetual, encompassing a wide range of tasks to manage the moorland environment:

Habitat and Wildlife Management

The primary role of an upland gamekeeper is to manage the flora, landscape, and wildlife of the moors to promote biodiversity and allow wildlife, including red grouse, to flourish. This work continues throughout the year, even when there isn't enough grouse for shooting.

Vegetation Management

This is a key activity, involving a mosaic of different heights of heather, grasses, bracken, and dwarf shrubs. Methods used include controlled burning (muirburn), mowing, and grazing, to encourage new heather growth, which is the main food source for grouse. This management is essential for the health of the vegetation and to support diverse flora and fauna. In a typical year, the 58 surveyed moors actively manage a total of 273,326 acres, an area similar to Bedfordshire.

Moorland Habitat Improvement

Since 2021, the 58 surveyed moors have improved over 186,000 acres (an area larger than Middlesex) through rewetting, peat restoration, bracken management, clearing self-set trees, and planting trees and sphagnum plugs. Gamekeepers plan, manage, and monitor this work, often in collaboration with contractors.

Bracken Management 

Given the problems bracken causes, such as reducing grazing, increasing veterinary bills for livestock, potential carcinogens in water supplies, and harboring ticks, 97% of surveyed moors dedicate time and resources to controlling its spread. Common methods include spraying herbicide, crushing with rollers, grazing by cattle, mowing, and planting trees.

Tick Control 

To reduce the numbers of ticks, which cause illnesses in wild and domestic animals and humans (like Lyme disease), gamekeepers use methods such as grazing and dipping sheep, bracken management, and deer culling.

Water Quality and Carbon Sequestration 

Management efforts include improving water retention and carbon sequestration. Water quality is regularly monitored on 32 of the 58 surveyed moors. Controlled burning can also increase carbon sequestration.

Wildfire Management 

Gamekeepers are crucial in preventing and fighting wildfires. They manage land by removing excess vegetation and creating fire breaks. They are often first on the scene, having specialist training and equipment, and even train members of the Fire & Rescue Service in wildfire management.

Their expertise is valued by conservation organizations and utilities, and they have assisted in fighting wildfires on various types of moorland, including those not managed for grouse shooting.

Predator Control 

Legal control of generalist predators is considered essential for the successful breeding of large numbers of different bird species. All 58 surveyed moors controlled foxes, and most controlled carrion crows, stoats, weasels, and rats. This significantly increases the likelihood of ground-nesting birds hatching eggs and fledging young.

Surveying and Monitoring 

Gamekeepers routinely survey and monitor various animal species, including red grouse, other birds (like wading birds, raptors, butterflies), and mammals like mountain hares. They also monitor diseases and parasites such as tapeworm, cryptosporidiosis, mycoplasma, coccidiosis, louping ill, and strongyle worm, enabling preventative action and treatment for animals at risk. Many moors employ external specialists or purchase equipment for monitoring.

Public Safety and Moorland Upkeep 

Gamekeepers are a constant presence on the moor and act as "first responders," helping people in distress on over 1,500 occasions (e.g., lost individuals, those needing first aid, vehicle issues, lost dogs).

They also engage with the public to prevent damaging activities, asking people to keep dogs on leads (nearly 10,000 instances), stay on paths, put out campfires (over 2,300 instances), and pick up litter (over 5,600 instances). They are responsible for clearing litter (nearly 5,000 instances) and fly-tipping (284 instances). They also maintain paths and tracks for public access.

Environmental Impacts of Year-Round Management

The diligent year-round work of gamekeepers yields substantial positive environmental impacts:

Biodiversity and Rare Bird Species 

Gamekeepers enable many species of waders, raptors, and passerines to thrive. The results on bird life are dramatic and crucial for the survival of many increasingly rare species. For example, the 58 moors in the study have, in the last three years, successfully fledged young equivalent to approximately 12% of the UK's curlew population, nearly 9% of the lapwing population, and over 10% of the golden plover population.

Over half of the UK's red-listed curlews and over 40% of its red-listed lapwings are found on Regional Moorland Groups' (RMGs) land. All 58 moors contained populations of at least two species of successfully breeding raptors. This management also increases overall 'gamma' biodiversity in the uplands.

Globally Important Habitats 

The UK's heather moorlands are globally significant, estimated to comprise about 75% of the world's extensive heather uplands, a result of centuries of management. This makes English grouse moors nationally and internationally important for birds, especially ground-nesting species.

Contribution to 30by30 Targets 

The 140 RMG moors cover approximately 1,072,654 acres, an area larger than Hampshire. They include at least 314,112 acres of Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs). Their environmental work, particularly the active management of an area the size of Derbyshire annually and habitat improvement of an area the size of Berkshire since 2021, strongly suggests a significant contribution to England's 30by30 conservation targets.

Key Takeaways

The report strongly emphasize that the "simple job title of 'gamekeeper' can encompass everything that Professor Denny has found it to be".

Their constant, year-round work is crucial for maintaining the unique habitat of the English uplands, ensuring the survival and thriving of numerous bird species, contributing significantly to national conservation targets, and indirectly providing substantial public benefits through access and safety on the moors.

Without gamekeepers, these positive economic, environmental, and social impacts would not be achieved.

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