The GoG Blog

By Rebekah Strong, Scottish Land & Estates Black grouse were once a widespread, annually harvested species throughout southern Scotland. However, after the First World War black grouse populations began to decline and by the 1970’s few birds were shot. This coincided with the growth of conifer plantations, as government encouraged landowners to grow more trees

The following letter published in The Scottish Farmer offers an important insight into how farmers and gamekeepers have the knowledge and experience to really benefit ground-nesting birds. Mr Robertson makes an important point here. These arguments have also been made by other land managers but it is crucial to keep making our case – we

The Werritty Review included mountain hare culls as one of the topics for its detailed investigation. For those of us at the coal face, as it were, we feel very strongly that the approach adopted by land managers has been to prioritize sustainable management of hare numbers. Gamekeepers only cull when the numbers are disproportionately

The current environmental fashion is in favour of tree planting. Scottish Ministers have a target of 10,000 hectares of new forests per year, increasing to 15,000 hectares per year by 2024. This is a worthwhile initiative and Scotland is ahead of the rest of the UK, with 84% of all new planting happening in Scotland.

Don’t miss the latest issue of The Field which has our thoughts on the Werritty Review and our concerns over the potential for added restrictions on land management in Scotland. The full text of the article is below. All reviews commissioned by Governments can be regarded as political and the “Werritty” report (link) finally published

By Dee Ward, owner Rottal Estate, Angus The final report of a two-year long review into grouse moor management, commissioned by the Scottish Government, has made a host of recommendations that would result in the biggest change for generations. Grouse shooting, of course, evokes strong opinions and there are those who would gladly see an

The Gift of Grouse initiative provides a voice to all those involved in grouse moor management and helps inform about the benefits this important sector provides to Scotland’s rural communities and beyond. We want everyone to play their part in The Gift of Grouse whether you are a gamekeeper, a country sports participant, someone who

The area of Scotland used for grouse shooting has been alleged to be “almost a fifth of Scotland’s land” but this is based on out-dated figures. Changes in land use and economic viability has reduced this figure, and is estimated to now be no more than 10% of Scotland used for both driven and walked

The British Game Alliance (BGA) was formed with the aim to increase demand in order to return a commercial value back to British game meat. Launched back in May 2017, the BGA laid out its plans for the season ahead and has certainly delivered, publishing a comprehensive end of season summary to the industry. Now approaching 500 shoot members have

The contribution of grouse moors revealed in new Scottish Government-commissioned report. The James Hutton Institute and Scotland’s Rural College were jointly commissioned by the Scottish Government to investigate the socio-economic and biodiversity impacts of grouse shooting in Scotland. Their report, published last week, demonstrates the importance of the sector to rural areas of the country