NitroX
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| (.700 member) |
| 22/08/19 10:24 PM |
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Re: A Year in the Life of a Grouse Moor
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This item appears on YouTube in Fieldsports Britain, episode 350 http://bit.ly/fieldsportsbritain350
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We’re proud to promote enjoyment of fieldsports and the countryside. There are three guiding principles to everything we do on Fieldsports Channel:
▶ Shoot responsibly
▶ Respect the quarry
▶ Ensure a humane, clean and quick kill
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Why shoot game birds?
Game is wild, natural and free range, and it is one of the healthiest meats available today. It is low in cholesterol and high in protein. Results from research commissioned by the Game-to-Eat campaign (Leatherhead Food International Research 2006) suggest that there are real health benefits to eating game. Both pheasant and partridge contain high levels of iron, protein, vitamin B(6) and selenium, which helps to protect cells from damage caused by free radicals.
In addition to the nutritional benefits of game, game shooting is worth £2 billion annually to the rural economy and supports 74,000 jobs. There are 480,000 (UK government figures) active game shooters in the UK who enjoy bird shooting under the principles of the Code of Good Shooting Practice.
More than 2 million hectares are actively managed for shooting in the UK creating proven (PACEC, 2014) conservation benefits and preserving important habitats for a diverse range of flora and fauna, in particular farmland birds. UK shooting providers spend £5.4 million on cover crop seeds every year and maintain over 25,000ha of wild-bird cover.
Why shoot Mountain hare?
There are thought to be more than 432,500 Mountain Hares in the UK. Mountain hares thrive on heather moorland and can reach particularly high densities on managed grouse moors. At high densities the species can cause damage to agricultural crops and young forestry.
The active management of heather moorland including predator control and rotational burning, provides excellent habitat for both red grouse and mountain hares, both species feeding on young heather shoots.
Hares can sustain high levels of ticks and the tick-borne louping-ill virus, bringing them into conflict with red grouse. Therefore, hare numbers may need to be sensitively managed to suppress parasitic ticks and diseases such as Lyme disease.