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13 April 2023
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20 April 2023Guns of August
On the heather-clad uplands of Yorkshire, the grouse-shooting season is in full swing, providing one of the world’s greatest field sports occasions
R ain was forecast, but it hasn’t arrived. Instead a late summer sun beats down on the Yorkshire moors, creating a shimmering heat-haze above the purple carpet of heather. The silence is disturbed only by the hum of bees and the distant cry of a kestrel. The scene is one of unchanging, undisturbed and unparalleled British countryside.
There is more to this timeless scene, however. It is the first day of the grouse-shooting season (traditionally 12 August) at the Swinton Park estate in North Yorkshire and, strung out behind a low stone wall, a line of nine guns is waiting. From the other side of the hill a party of beaters, waving flags and emitting shouts, is moving slowly forward. And, in between the two, the red grouse are stirring.
At the No3 position, two shooters in from the right of the line, Mark Cunliffe-Lister, Lord Masham, shares some expert knowledge as we wait for the quarry to appear.
‘Because it’s so warm and still today, the grouse won’t be so eager to fly,’ he suggests, ‘they’ll stay in the heather for as long as they can.’ He is also aware that, while some of the nearby grouse moors have been reporting bumper numbers of the birds this year, others have seen disappointingly few.
‘For the first few weeks of their lives, young grouse need insects to eat. It’s only later that they start feeding on the heather. So cold, wet weather at the wrong time can mean fewer birds in the shooting season.’
Grouse numbers (specifically red grouse) are of particular interest to Cunliffe-Lister because he is the owner both of these moors, and also of the nearby Swinton Park hotel – located in the impressive 19th-century mansion that was for many decades his family’s home.
In 1980, the Cunliffe-Listers sold up and the property became a management college. Mark himself trained as a geophysicist at Durham University and worked both in London and in South America for energy companies. In 2000, however, the family bought back the ancestral home for around £1.75 million and after much work by Mark and his wife, Felicity, the house was transformed into one of the finest hotels in the north of England. This is not the time, however, to muse on that success. To the left the bark of a shotgun breaks the silence and suddenly five birds race towards us, fast, dark and close to the ground they are difficult to spot until they are almost overhead.
The guns do not have much time to react; unleashing a shot into the speeding birds before twisting and releasing a second barrage as the grouse disappear behind them. This process is repeated several times until the beaters are clearly visible and a horn sounds to signify that no more shots can be fired forward of the guns’ position – they can still turn and shoot to the rear. Then, as the beaters walk closer still, the shoot draws to a close.
To the left the bark of a shotgun breaks the silence and suddenly five birds race towards us, fast, dark and close to the ground they are difficult to spot until almost overhead
Now it is the turn of the hunters’ dogs to take the stage. Each gun has at least one canine companion and their task is to search the thick heather for the fallen grouse. With great excitement the animals weave in and out of the undergrowth, occasionally emerging with a downed bird in their jaws.
Keeping the dogs focused on the job in hand and making them release their prize once they’ve sniffed it out is not always the easiest task, it appears, and soon the likes of Bingo, Myrtle and William are being reminded in no uncertain terms who’s boss.
Soon around 40 birds have been collected from the undergrowth. Many of these will be destined for top UK restaurants, though some will form the centrepiece of a special grouse dinner planned for this very evening in the Library at Swinton Park.
Mission accomplished, we move on to another part of the 20,000-acre estate to repeat the process, the guns this time taking up position in purpose-built firing positions.
The general consensus among the participants is that grouse provide the greatest challenge for anyone looking to shoot game in the UK. They fly low and fast and, especially later in the year when the heather fades from purple to grey, are both well-camouflaged and wary – they soon learn what gunfire means.
They have been hunted on these moors for hundreds of years and the estate keeps records of how many grouse have been downed dating back to the 1820s. ‘Up until the 1860s a few hundred birds were shot each year,’ explains Cunliffe-Lister, ‘then in the 1860s, that figure jumped into the thousands. That was due to the invention of the cartridge. Suddenly it was possible to shoot much more effectively. Before this, people were having to fire one shot and then go through a much more time-consuming reloading process.’
As the shoot draws to a close it is hard to imagine that much has changed since the Victorian era. The Swinton Park keepers are resplendent in uniform brown-green checked tweeds and baggy flat caps and talk soon turns to techniques of countryside management and the skills required to run a successful grouse moor.
Swinton Park employs three gamekeepers specifically to manage its grouse population – while others focus on different game, such as pheasants. ‘The grouse keepers try to control vermin, animals such as foxes and weasels,’ explains Cunliffe-Lister.
‘They’re a ground-nesting bird, so that’s an important part of the job. They also focus on habitat creation; burning heather to encourage new growth, controlling bracken [which can invade and choke moorland]. That not only helps the grouse, but it encourages other bird species such as lapwing, snipe and plover.’
There is perhaps a certain irony in all this. Without shooting parties such as this one at Swinton Park, the uplands of Britain would probably not be as diverse and colourful as they are today. Over 75 per cent of the world’s remaining heather moorland is in this country and its survival is in large part the result of estates preserving habitat for red grouse in particular. Without the income brought to upland areas by shooting, the glorious banks of purple heather that are such a feature of the Yorkshire moors in late summer and early autumn could have been lost forever as landowners turned to more prosaic activities such as sheep farming.
Some members of the latter species are to be found on the moors, looking on with curiosity as our party finally heads to the Land Rovers before driving back to the comforts of Swinton Park. It has been a successful day’s shooting, despite those early concerns about rain, and there promise to be many more before the season draws to a close in December.
Words: Staff
Over 75 per cent of the world’s remaining heather moorland is in Britain and its survival is in large part the result of estates preserving habitat for red grouse
Bespoke shooting breaks by air
Specialist shooting company Roxtons can organise shooting trips by specially equipped helicopter to venues across the UK and Europe including to the grouse moors of North Yorkshire.roxtons.com Swinton Park is located near Ripon in North Yorkshire. It is the ancestral home of the Cunliffe-Lister family.
The 30-room hotel is set in 200 acres of landscaped parkland that includes Victorian follies, lakes and ancient trees. Rooms are named after nearby Yorkshire attractions, such as Fountains Abbey.
Where possible, food and drink served in the renowned Samuel's restaurant is sourced from local suppliers and from the hotel's own four-acre kitchen garden. Swinton Park can arrange various shooting activities, including grouse shooting. The season runs from August until December.
swintonestate.com
This article was originally published in Halycon magazine in 2011.
