Glorious Twelfth gets off to a muted bang


13 August 1998


Glorious Twelfth gets off to a muted bang


THE Glorious Twelfth got off a quiet start yesterday. Grouse-breeding on the estates in the north of England and Scotland was poor this year because of disease and the weather. This meant some regular foreign shooters stayed away.

Lesley Ferguson of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) said that the lack of birds had meant no shooting on many of the northern England estates on the first day of the season.

Colin Shedden, BASC director in Scotland, said there had been a progressive decline in grouse shooting partly because of the growth of commercial forests, an increase in birds of prey and a decline in gamekeeping.

About 450,000 grouse are shot annually on Britains moors.

See more