This RSPB manual from the 1990s was recently found in a library. As you can see, the copy runs as follows:
Grouse moor, Strathdon, Grampian
Upland heaths support internationally important breeding populations of several species of birds of prey and waders, as well as both red and black grouse. Management of heather for red grouse, such as controlled burning, provides habitat for other birds such as golden plover and curlew. The RSPB recognises this contribution to the conservation of upland birds by the owners and managers of grouse moors.
How the times have changed. Contrast the statement above with this recent RSPB blog:“Over three-quarters of a million hectares of moorland, especially in England and Scotland, are managed for the recreational shooting of red grouse. To do this, gamekeepers burn vegetation, they trap, shoot or poison predators of grouse such as weasels, stoats, foxes and crows, as well as carriers of grouse disease such as mountain hares, and they chemically medicate the grouse themselves. They do this in a bid to ensure exceptionally high and increasing (150-500 birds per km2) post-breeding densities of grouse which are then ‘driven’ (flushed) over static lines of shooters.”
At the end of last year, the RSPB renewed their calls for grouse shooting to be licensed in England, justifying this by stating that: “many are calling for sustainable land management and more nature in our uplands”. But how would the regulation of grouse shooting achieve this aim?
Just 30 years ago, the RSPB were able to recognise publicly what everyone else can see – that grouse moor management is beneficial to many different special of birds as well as biodiversity more widely and does, in fact, play a vital role in ensuring there is “more nature in ‘our’ uplands”.
Indeed, if you compare RSPB-managed areas with those managed by gamekeepers, there are far more successes on grouse moors than on the RSPB's upland reserves; we won't repeat the Lake Vyrnwy data yet again,but the figures speak for themselves.
The benefits that grouse moor management brings to wildlife haven't changed. So the question is, what has changed at the RSPB?