A SUBDUED start to the grouse shooting season got under way in Perthshire yesterday—the traditional Glorious Twelfth.

A cloud of uncertainty hangs over the prospects for the gun parties in the coming weeks, with predictions that Scotland faces its worst season for a decade.

Tick infestations, bad weather and falling grouse stocks have all been blamed for the situation.

West Perthshire and South Deeside are the worst hit areas in Scotland, according to the Scottish director of the Game Conservancy Trust, Ian McColl.

“We do grouse counts in sample areas from the middle of July, and these two areas were the worst I’ve counted in about 10 years,” he said.

Mr McColl said hotels will feel the force of the blow and that it would have a knock-on effect on “vulnerable communities.”

“Groups come from across the Atlantic to shoot and they won’t be making the journey, which means hotels won’t be getting their cheques at the end of the week,” he said.

Despite the fears, Highland Perthshire is enjoying an excellent season in terms of visitor numbers.

Visitscotland’s information office in Aberfeldy said the impact would only be clearer as the grouse season—which runs until early December—progressed.

“We have many visitors in the area at the moment, but it is difficult to say what they have come for,” said a spokeswoman for the tourist office.

“Many shooting parties will have booked up much earlier and will be staying in self-catering lodges on estates.

“The following weeks will tell if there has been a drop in numbers,” she said.

“At the moment we are very busy, though we have Aberfeldy Show and the “mini” tattoo on this weekend.”

One Highland Perthshire estate said that the lack of grouse was likely to cost them thousands of pounds in lost revenue.

The estate, which did not wish to be named for fear that it would further diminish the attraction for shooting parties, admitted that it looked on course to be the “most disappointing season for many years.”

Colin Sheddon, Scottish director of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation, said that unseasonably cold and wet weather played a major part in the poor grouse numbers.

“In general we are looking at the worst year in perhaps the last 10 years, while in England they are saying it’s the worst in 50,” he said.