Angus grouse moors have recorded a 2010 season to celebrate with reports of bumper bags and a welcome economic spin-off for the local glens.
The curtain on the red grouse season came down on December 10 and reports now arriving at the headquarters of a leading conservancy organisation indicate the strongest performance in the area for a number of years.
The Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) said it was building up a picture of a good season and suggests the encouraging statistics have been helped by a moorland project now bearing fruit after being initiated six years ago.
The Angus Glens Moorland Health Project was set up by the GWCT to encourage landowners, keepers, farmers, shepherds and land agents in the county to improve the quality of the heather habitat and control tick numbers.
“Poor food resources and diseases can be devastating to grouse but improving the resilience of moors doesn’t just benefit the birds but many other moorland species, such as mountain hares,” a GWCT spokesman said.
This year it has not been unusual for Angus to see 200-brace of grouse harvested in one day a figure which has elevated the glens to one of the most productive locations in Scotland.
“This increase in shooting activity has given a boost to seasonal employment for the likes of beaters and augmented indirect income to businesses,” the spokesman added.
Dr Adam Smith, GWCT director Scotland, said the 2010 Angus picture was very encouraging. “It was particularly good in Angus and perhaps slightly more restricted in Perthshire. Some parts of Perthshire showed general signs of improvement, indeed they actually managed to drive grouse in eastern Perthshire for the first time in many years. It’s a good news story all round.”
But the situation is not as encouraging in western areas of Perthshire, where predation on stocks has led to a serious decline in grouse numbers.
“One of the main challenges is giving landowners the confidence to develop grouse moors on their estates,” Dr Smith added. “That confidence will come from an ability to address problems with predation. The grouse population in parts of Perthshire has reached such low levels that they are unable to halt the downward spiral.”
Farther afield, most estates in Inverness-shire have been “fairly happy” with their season according to the GWCT, with some recording exceptional results. One estate in the region has reported a 3000-brace season and another had shot its best bags for over 10 years.
One grouse enthusiast, who normally takes most of his grouse shooting south of the border, said he had enjoyed exceptional sport in Angus and the north-east.
“Nineteen of my 22 days’ grouse shooting were in Grampian and Angus this season,” he told GWCT. “Many more guns travelled north from Norfolk, London and the south of England to enjoy the sport in Scotland and I know lots of them stayed in local lodges and hotels during their stay.”
The GWCT said the south of Scotland has remained on an even keel, allaying fears that heavy snowfall last winter would have been disastrous for grouse stocks. Peebles-shire, the Lammermuirs and Lowther Hills all performed well although no records were broken, the conservation agency reported.
“While the expectations were low the reality was a good year, continuing the trend of good grouse years following hard winters,” the GWCT spokesperson added.
Details of grouse bags are being collated and analysed by GWCT through its national game bag census and the figures will be released early next year.