WITH THE grouse shooting season beginning today (Saturday), the shooting sector was this week stressing its conservationist credentials, highlighting an all-time high in sporting estate support for a project to help protect hen harriers.

Sixteen shooting estates, covering a total of 325,000 acres, are now taking part in a project to help protect hen harriers in Scotland, volunteering to place monitoring cameras on their land in order to protect hen harrier nests as part of the ‘Heads up for harriers’campaign.

Scottish Land and Estates chairman, David Johnstone, said: “It is hugely encouraging to see more estates coming forward to do their bit in helping to protect this wonderful bird. There is a genuine commitment from estates to see the harrier flourish and we firmly believe that estates should be part of the wider collaborative efforts to increase the harrier population. 

“Many estates helped surveyors from RSPB and the Scottish Raptor Study Groups to carry out the 2016 UK hen harrier survey for which results were announced in June,” he said. “There is no doubt that partnership working does produce results and this is a point we will make constructively in the forthcoming independent review of grouse moor management.”

However, the weather has cast some doubt on how well this year’s shooting season will go: “Hopes were very high earlier in the season for an outstanding year but late snow and wet weather in June has had an impact – resulting in a very mixed picture across Scotland,” said Robert Rattray, head of the Sporting Lets agency.

“What this means is that some estates are looking forward to starting shooting on the 12th but for others it will mean a substantially reduced programme. What does not change is the significant investment by estate owners who are employing gamekeepers and staff all year round.”