Breadcrumbs
NCAF 6/2 Impact of Public Access on Grouse Management
Summary
Impacts of Access on Grouse biology and management
1. The impact of human induced disturbance on
grouse biology, management and harvesting are considered.
2. The principal source of disturbance during the breeding season
is likely to be directly caused by dogs. Field studies have shown
an uncontrolled dog caused 7 times more disturbance than one under
tight control.
3. Frequency of disturbance may be a problem for hens incubating or
with young broods. Nesting grouse should not be disturbed more than
once every 4 days and brooding grouse once every 2 days.
4. Fox control is usually undertaken at night and crow control with
the use of cage tarps. Efficacy of techniques is subject to
disturbance and cages are vulnerable to vandalism.
5. During dry periods, heather moorland provides a potentially
significant fire risk.
6. During the shooting season grouse can be easily disturbed by
people and dogs and there is an added safety risk to people during
shooting
Summary of Recommendations
7. Dogs should be under tight control between April 15th and December 10th. This requires having all dogs on a short lead (less than 1 metre).
8. Increased awareness of management procedures is required through signs at access points.
9. Standardised labels should be affixed to cages and traps, ideally supplied by the Countryside Agency.
10. Limited areas of moorland could be closed for periods of up to 1 week for land management practices.
11. Signs at access points should warn people during periods of nesting to be careful and told not to linger close to the nests of birds or in areas where birds are showing signs of agitation due to their presence.
12. Frequency of disturbance during the grouse breeding season should be minimised.
13. People should be encouraged to remain within groups.
14. Moorland areas should be closed during periods of severe fire risk.
15. People should not camp or remain on the hill after sunset.
16. Moorland areas should either be closed on shooting days or people restricted to designated areas.
17. Grouse managers may consider closing the moor on the day before shooting.
Background and Introduction
General comments
1. Much of the comments that follow are based on personal knowledge, published data and conditions recorded in Northern England. I have never worked intensively in Wales or the south west of England so my comments relate to moorland areas in Northern England. I have extensive experience of grouse management in Scotland and have drawn on these experiences where they relate to the English situation.
2. All comments made are my own, based on observations and data and do not reflect the views of The University of Stirling or any body funding my current research group.
3. The approach I have taken in this report is first to consider the life cycle of the red grouse, examining its biology and then identifying when and where disturbance can occur. Second to consider the management procedures involved with grouse moor management and how disturbance or access may reduce efficacy of these procedures. Third to consider disturbance during the shooting season. References are omitted from the text but are presented in Appendix II. Underlined sections of text allow the reader to scan this document rapidly
General comments on human induced disturbance
4. The term disturbance is used in this report to reflect the direct or indirect actions of humans that has a deleterious impact on grouse behaviour. This can be simple direct action like unintentionally flushing a bird or an indirect action such as letting a dog off the leash that catches a bird. Note that the sensitivity of the grouse to disturbance varies during the year.
5. Walkers and others following the countryside code are of little threat to grouse, frequently I have been working on the hill and they have passed within meters of me, totally unaware of my presence because their eyes are focussed on where they are placing their feet. As such the majority of people only cause disturbance unintentionally. Regrettably vandalism in the countryside is increasing.
6. The one dominating cause of disturbance to grouse will be caused by free ranging dogs. Studies by myself have shown grouse are 7 times more likely to be disturbed by dogs when they are not on a leash (Appendix I). As a dog owner myself I am aware that one way round the "all dogs must be on a leash" is to use a Flexi-lead which allows the dog to range around the heather on a long chord while still held by the owner. I would say that this was not under tight control, this requires a leash less than 1 metre in length.
7. Grouse on moorland areas become used to people, particularly when they are on recognised routes of access. Indeed on some parts the grouse become relatively tame.
8. There is the possibility that grouse that became tame could not be driven for shooting but I know of no evidence to support this belief. Detailed radio tracking found no evidence of reduced breeding by grouse within 100 metres of a public right of way compared with those nesting further than this distance (Appendix I)
9. There is no substantial evidence of a reduction in grouse bags associated with current levels of access. Analyses of grouse bags in the 1970s did not find evidence of a negative association between public pressure and bag records. Neither was there evidence of a reduction of bags in areas with increasing disturbance. However, this does not mean that further increased disturbance would not have a significant impact on grouse bags through direct disturbance and interference with management procedures. See Appendix 1. Ultimately any conclusion should be based on a large-scale trial.
10. The production of grouse is dominated by the impact of their natural predators. Based on data, I consider the important factors that determine the equilibrium density are in order of priority: fox, crow, louping ill virus and strongyle worm. Other factors are relatively insignificant. Any features of access that increases losses to predation (or parasitism) will reduce harvest yields and reduce financial margins in the long term. Year to year changes in abundance are influenced by the interplay of these factors and under good predator control are dominated by the strongyle worm.
Vested interest statements
11. I (Peter Hudson) have worked on the population dynamics of red grouse for more than 20 years with more than 100 scientific publications on the subject and three books (Appendix II). I am currently Professor of Animal Ecology at University of Stirling and Chair of the NERC Terrestrial Sciences.
12. Through my research I have met the majority of grouse moor owners and keepers in Northern England Scotland. In the past I raised funds for my research specifically from these landowners.
13. I worked for the Game Conservancy Trust for 15 years and was Head of their Upland Research Group.
14. I have one small grant (£28K) funded from The Scottish Research Trust, a Trust with funds raised exclusively from Scottish grouse moor owners. This grant is specifically to analyse and publish scientific papers relating to the role of the main mortality factors affecting managed grouse populations in Scotland. This does not include public access or disturbance and does not relate to English or Welsh grouse moors.
15. I currently have 2 PhD students that are jointly supervised between myself and staff of the Game Conservancy Trust.
16. Most of my current research is funded by NERC, BBSRC, SOAFED and research councils in Italy and Norway. None of this research conflicts with this report.
Grouse Biology and vulnerability to Public
Access
Nesting period or incubation (April 15-May 25)
17. Grouse start laying their eggs late in April. Indeed the closure of the heather burning season recognises the fact that moorland birds will have started laying by the middle of April.
18. It is imperative to realise that the harvest is essentially derived from the breeding production of the birds so any impact on this production will reduce the harvest.
19. Grouse incubate their eggs for 22 days during which they sit very tight. Nests are difficult to locate at this time and people can walk within 50 cm. of an incubating hen without flushing or disturbing her.
20. Detailed radio tracking studies found that people walking along designated rights of way did not disturb grouse nesting close to the footpath (Appendix I)
21. The main threat during incubation is from dogs that flush hens from the nest and may either directly destroy a clutch of eggs or displace a bird leaving the nest vulnerable to predation by crows. Note that females reduce scent emission during incubation and so most dogs (other than those trained) only find nests by accident.
22. A minor threat is that people may unintentionally flush an incubating hen and keeps her from her nest for a period that leads to chilling of the eggs and death of the embryos. Awareness of the public to the breeding season of ground nesting birds should make this an insignificant problem by placing notices about the breeding season at access points.
23. If a hen is flushed, the best strategy is for the person to leave the vicinity of the nest and withdraw so that the person is no longer visible to the hen. Hens usually return quickly once the person has departed.
24. Nests disturbed more than once every
four days are liable to be deserted by hens.
Nests disturbed soon after incubation has started are more likely
to desert than those close to hatching.
25. Once hens desert, they will rarely relay a replacement clutch. Even if they do, the late clutches produce weak chicks that don't survive well.
Hatching and young chicks (May 10 - July 1st)
26. On hatching, grouse remain in or close to the nest for about 2 days before leaving the nest and the territory. On hatching the territorial boundaries break down and broods can move miles from where they hatched, usually in search of areas rich in invertebrate food.
27. Hatching period is critical, hens
must change their behaviour from one of incubation to care and
chicks have only just emerged from the eggs. Disturbance at this
time can lead to the loss of the brood if weather conditions are
severe.
Once again disturbance at this time allows predators, usually
crows, the opportunity to take the young.
28. Crows are remarkably opportunistic predators and can follow people and use them as a means of giving access to potential food: eggs and chicks.
29. As with the nesting period, the best approach is for the person causing the disturbance to leave immediately and leave the hen to return and call the chicks together.
30. Frequent disturbance usually results in the brood moving away from the area. Broods should not be disturbed more than one every 2 days.
31. Disturbance during poor weather conditions can lead to death of chicks, particularly when chicks are 12 to 20 days of age. During these periods the chicks have started to fly and their response to disturbance is to take to the wing, sometimes catching the wind and travelling several 100 metres before hiding within the heather vegetation. In poor weather conditions, these chicks can die before the mother has time to call chicks together.
Pre shooting period (July 1st - August 11th)
32. This is a period that we do not know a great deal about although there appears to be a mortality occurring we have yet to account for. My suspicion is there is a critical period of temperature control when chicks are too large to be brooded by their mothers but are still not able to control their own temperature and so are vulnerable to exposure.
33. As with young chicks, broods can be scattered by ranging dogs at this time and in poor weather conditions chicks can become separated from their family covey.
34. The response of the person causing any disturbance should be to withdraw rapidly.
Shooting season (August 12th - December 10th)
35. In the autumn, family groups of grouse start to break up. Old cocks return to their territories and later young cocks establish territories alongside their fathers while the young females form into groups that go in search of prospective mates. These females sometime cover large distances and appear in areas that are not grouse habitat.
36. During periods of snow cover and during the shooting season grouse form into large packs. These packs can be easily disturbed and can move from one estate to another. This can result in reduced bags on estates regularly disturbed. One way to reduce this disturbance is by keeping dogs under tight control. A second is for the grouse manager to close a grouse moor the day before shooting.
37. Once again packs are vulnerable to disturbance by dogs.
38. Recommendations:
a. All dogs must be kept on a lead at all times.b. Grouse managers may consider closing the moor on the day before shooting.
Winter and early spring (December 10th to April 15th)
39. Grouse spend this period either defending their territories or in packs waiting for favourable conditions to return to their territories. Much of the time spent in packs is principally to avoid predators and obtain access to food.
40. Recommendations :
a. All dogs must be kept on a lead and tight control at all times.b. Care should be taken to reduce unintentional disturbance through awareness education. Signs at access points should warn people during periods of nesting to be careful and told not to linger close to the nests of birds or in areas where birds are showing signs of agitation due to their presence.
c. People should walk in groups where ever possible to reduce continual disturbance
Public Access impact on Grouse Management
Predator control
41. Much of the data I have leads me to suppose that predator control is imperative if grouse managers are to produce a surplus of grouse. This entails principally the control of foxes and the control of carrion crows. Other predators such as stoats and mink can be locally important but nationally are relatively insignificant after foxes and crows.
42. Fox control requires a diversity of techniques including shooting foxes at night with a spot lamp, snaring and shooting foxes entering or leaving a den and flushing from a den.
43. Lamping foxes at night is the principal and most effective means of control. One concern is safety of people. Imagine the scenario of a keeper lining up a rifle on a fox unaware of a camouflaged tent behind the fox.
44.
a. People should not be allowed to camp or stay overnight on a hill without permission from the estate.45. A second concern is disturbance of foxes. In early spring (March to June) some keepers like any itinerant foxes to settle down before controlling them at their den.
46. Disturbance in spring may hinder fox control. This could be reduced if people were asked to stay away from specific areas for management reasons.
47.
a. Limited areas of moorland could be closed for periods of up to 1 week for land management practices.48. Snares are a concern to dog owners. Snares can be legally set by keepers to catch foxes and these are placed on "fox runs" which are frequently natural paths used by people and dogs. Usually most people do not see the snare and will brush against it without even noticing it, frequently making the snare snap shut as a consequence. Dogs of the same height as foxes may well run into such snares and damage themselves.
49. Another snaring technique is to bury carcasses of dead wildlife and snare the surrounding vegetation. These areas (known as middens) may also attract the attention of the public and free ranging dogs that may be at risk from being caught n the snares or disturbing the snares.
50.
a. All dogs must be kept on a lead and tight
control at all times.
b. Keepers should be sensitive about where snares are
set.
c. Access to some areas should be closed for land
management practices
52. I did work on Balmoral estate for several years and this is an area with open access and large numbers of people at weekends. However, the keepers had to remove all cage traps from the hill every Friday because traps were vandalised every weekend.
53. Recommendation:
a. Awareness education. Increased education
of the general public about the management procedures of grouse
management. Labels should be supplied by EN or CA and attached to
traps saying they are an integral part of land management and are
legal and acceptable procedures. Interfering with such procedures
is illegal. An alternative is to allow specific areas to be closed
for the purposes of management practices.
b. Limited areas of moorland could be closed for periods of up to 1
week for land management practices.
Heather burning
54. Heather burning is an integral part of the maintenance of heather moorland. This is principally conducted in spring but can be legally done in the autumn.
55. Heather ground is only burnt when the heather is dry enough but not too dry as a to cause a fire hazard. It is also burnt when the wind conditions will not cause a fire hazard.
56. There is a possibility that people could walk into a fire or be encompassed by a fire but this would be irresponsible behaviour on their part.
57. Recommendation:
a. Signs placed at access points during the
main weeks of heather burning (usually mid March to mid April)
which state that heather burning is currently being undertaken and
people should avoid all such areas.
58. Of more concern is the fire hazard that people can
cause. Obviously the countryside code should be followed but
during very dry periods when there is a severe fire hazard the
moorland area should be closed. This has been done in some National
Parks (North York Moors and Peak District)
59. Recommendation:
a. Heather moorland and grassland areas closed during periods of severe fire hazard
Worm and tick control60. Worm control is undertaken during autumn and early March through dazzling of grouse at night. Generally speaking there is little problem of access causing disturbance of any significance
61. Ticks are controlled through bracken control and control of ticks on alternative hosts. There is no direct interaction with access.
Bracken control
62. Bracken spraying usually occurs during July and the only conflict that can occur is that someone would wish to apply herbicide aerially while people are using the bracken bed.
63. Recommendation:
a. Limited areas of moorland could be closed for periods of up to 1 week for land management practices.
Counting grouse
64. Grouse populations are estimated through dog counts in spring and July. This is a necessary part of grouse management so managers know the abundance of grouse.
65. Disturbance by people at this time could flush birds from count areas.
66. Most counts should be conducted early in the morning and the moorland could be closed for a matter of a few hours to prevent interactions.
Harvesting grouse
67. Grouse shooting season runs from 12th August to 10th December. In years of high abundance, grouse may be harvested throughout the season but even in these years most grouse shooting occurs during the last 2 weeks of August and throughout September.
68. Grouse can be harvested by shooting over dogs but most shooting in England is through driven grouse shooting. This requires a good density of grouse.
69. On average a day's grouse shooting involves 9 guns (shooters) and 16 beaters. They have 5 drives during the day, during which the grouse are flushed from an area of 4 to 10km2 over the guns to be shot.
70. Conflicts arises with public access on shooting days when people walk through the middle of the drive and the grouse flush in the wrong direction, without flying over the guns.
71. A second cause of conflict may occur when people walk close to the guns placing themselves at risk to being shot. Note guns shoot grouse both flying towards them and away from them.
72. A third problem is that disturbance can be caused at some distance from the drive, particularly when birds are in packs. So an orange anorak at some distance can cause a pack of birds to move from one estate to the next.
73. Recommendation:
a. Moorland areas closed on shoot days or at least restricted to recognised footpaths. Advertising this may attract anti-hunt demonstrators so the grouse managers may have to close the hill without due notice.
Appendix I:
Hudson, P.J. 1982. Red grouse production and management in relation
to tourism.
Appendix II: Publications
Hudson, P.J. 1982. Red grouse production and management in relation to tourism. In: K.A. Hearn (ed) Moorlands: Wildlife conservation,amenity and recreation. 45-54.
Hudson, P.J.
The Red Grouse, The Biology and Management of a wild
Gamebird. Game Conservancy, Fordingbridge, 1986, 250 p.
Hudson, P.J.
Grouse in Space and Time. The Game Conservancy Trust,
Fordingbridge, 1992, 250 p.
Hudson, P.J. & Newborn, D.
A Handbook of Grouse and Moorland Management. The Game
Conservancy Trust, Fordingbridge, 1995, 169pp.
