Our friends over at Wild Justice have a petition to ban driven grouse shooting that is currently about 16,000 signatures off the required 100,000 to be debated in public. With moorland burning leading to carbon emissions, out-of-control wildfires, damage that leads to flooding, as well as air pollution and raptor persecution, driven grouse shooting needs to be ended.

In a surprising and very welcome turn of events, on Monday 31st March the government proposed a ban on moorland burning on peat over 30cm, which will dramatically affect driven grouse shooting, as we explore further on. 

About 700,000 red grouse are shot in the UK every year, though that is diminishing as the popularity of grouse shooting falls. About 1.3 million hectares of moorland is managed for grouse shooting, which is 5% of the UK landmass! Upland grouse moors are overwhelmingly on peat, a vastly important carbon sink and internationally recognised rare habitat.

These grouse moors are traditionally managed through burning and grazing, which encourages fresh heather shoots. The shoots are more nutritionally dense and can sustain greater numbers of red grouse, ready to be driven by ‘beaters’ into the waiting guns come shooting season. It also reduces cover for any predators which may leap upon the opportunity of having an unnaturally dense buffet of grouse chicks to eat.

Unfortunately, the burning on upland peat is a disaster, causing air pollution, contributing to climate change, wildfires and leading to flooding problems. It is these well-attested issues that have led to the government proposed ban on burning, which is out for consultation. We encourage everyone to make their views known through the consultation process, which will end on 25th May 2025. 

This news will be being celebrated in Sheffield, since recently Tom Hunt, the leader of Sheffield council, called for a ban on moorland burning, after the citizens of Sheffield suffered from extensive air pollution from the smoke of the burning moors, with high air pollution readings from primary schools. He says; 

‘Moorland burning does huge damage to our uplands. It destroys biodiversity, increases flood risk and reduces air quality. Air pollution kills. Fires have an immediate impact on hospital admissions and A&E attendances.’

Burning peatland also releases a vast amount of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, with a study finding that 800,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide were released by UK peatland fires between 2001-2021. The changing climate is drying out peat (which when dried is used as a fuel source), and making it more likely to combust, and increasing the chances of wildfires. The carbon being released is creating hotter and drier conditions, locking peatland into a downwards spiral of more fires, more carbon released, and hotter conditions leading to more fires.

Aside from the carbon climate catastrophe, burning peat can also reduce the land’s ability to cope with flooding events, which are increasing as the climate destabilises. Again Sheffield has suffered with dangerously high waters, with grouse moor burning playing a key role.

And it’s not just the climate and local communities that suffer. Biodiversity is negatively affected, with peatland species suffering from burning, as stated by the IUCN. Sphagnum moss is one of the key species of healthy peat bogs, with an ability to hold 20 times its own weight in water (hence the issue with flooding when it’s damaged). Sphagnum does not respond well to burning, and it is this plant which creates the basis for the peat bog ecosystem. Without it, everything is out of balance and all the other species suffer too.

So what does the shooting industry have to say to these points? All in all, not much. The flooding evidence is rebutted by one ‘expert’, Prof Jeremy Purseglove, who is quoted again and again as saying that there is ‘no direct evidence that grouse moor management causes flooding’, whilst providing no actual evidence to that end.

They also talk about ‘cool burns’, burning lightly so that the sphagnum isn’t damaged and to reduce ‘fuel load’ on the moor to prevent wildfires. This is despite evidence showing that up to 50% of wildfires are caused by ‘controlled’ burns becoming very much out-of-control, and as our friends over at Dartmoor Nature Alliance have highlighted, NE data says about 2020 wildfires;

The pattern for the uplands, from fewer fires where a specific source was recorded (n = 62) and overall, differs, with 68% (42) originated from a land management burn, 8% (5) were from camp fires, 8% (5) were caused by children/youths, 6% (4) were from BBQs and 5% (3) from military training. 

We do need to be cautious that the government’s proposal to provide ‘a license to burn in limited circumstances’ does not just see a continuation of business as usual in the name of wildfire prevention To quote Guy Shrubsole, do we fight fire with fire, or do we fight it with water?

The IUCN says, ‘a water table which sits at or close to the peat surface limits the capacity of uncontrolled fires to burn into the peat layer and smoulder, leading to less severe fires which intact peatlands have been found to recover from relatively quickly’.

It seems pretty clear that if peat is wet, then it can’t burn. Rewetting peatland has also been proven to reduce carbon emissions and flooding, however a lot of work is needed to help restore biodiversity to degraded peatland. Resources need to be made available for this important work – rewetting peatland should be for the benefit of all species.

The other major issue that plagues grouse moors is raptor persecution. Up on the high moors we still have many of our indigenous raptor species, such as kites, buzzards and eagles. All of these have been poisoned, shot and trapped illegally. It is such a well-acknowledged issue about grouse moors that the UK government has had evidence officially presented to the commons. Our friends over at Raptor Persecution UK do great work to document cases and push for convictions. Other animals also are often caught in the traps or ingest the poison, which then go back into the food cycle to other animals through carrion eaters, spreading the damage far and wide.

So I urge you to sign up to the petition to ban driven grouse shooting, and help to save the climate, the communities and the species that suffer so that a few people can shoot grouse in the sky like fish in a barrel.