UKC

Oh wait.

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/the-scourge-of-the-grouse-moor/amp?__tw...

Actually a very good article, even if it is just restating the obvious

Wouldn't have thought you were a Spectator reader

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-52667502

Don't hold out much hope for the lamagier that has,arrived in the Peak

I don't think "tracts of burned heather " are the reason our moors are so popular with the ordinary tourist/ holidaymaker/ day tripper/ sightseer.   

Will this be one benefit of leaving the EU when the large landowners stop receiving CAP subsidies and the moors become unprofitable making an economic argument for changing use of the land?

I had a look at North Yorks m'lords grouse moors and how much they receive, though I couldn't find all recent figures heres some of the payments :

Danby Moor owned by Viscount Downe, 10,500 acres

CAP payments 2016: £358,230.28

Baysdale Estate owned by Viscount Boyne, 3,873 acres
CAP payments 2014: £173,157
CAP payments 2016: £206,436.82

Wheeldale, Howl & Goathland Moors owned by Duchy of Lancaster, 5,000 acres
CAP payments 2016: £221,488.70

Hawnby & Arden Estate owned by Earl of Mexborough, 7,085 acres
CAP payments 2016: £204,602.52

Viscount Downe also owns Wykeham Estate where he has his large family pile:

‘On the Wykeham Estate there are 120 residential properties, 17 commercial units, based in converted agricultural buildings, and 11 workshop spaces. All are regularly maintained to provide good quality accommodation for letting. There are 18 tenanted farms across the Estate, 14 at Danby where there is also a Castle –  now a successful wedding venue – and a beautiful holiday let, Forrester’s Lodge. ‘

https://www.dawnay.co.uk/property/

We've all been paying for this with our taxes, it's absolutely bonkers!

As an aside, there were 'Vote Leave' signs on Downes' land before the referendum.  Do they know something we don't?

I’m sure Franco of the moors posted something about how in Castleton the allotments are owned by the Wykham estate and you don’t pay rent. You are called to the castle once a year to pay a fine, this way you don’t have any rights as a tenant.

The modern world of grouse estates.

I find the moors are a lovely places to be, but it's my understanding that the burning of heather is very bad for the vertebrates and mosses and insects, and bugs and 'other bits and pieces' which aren't the bird species which benefit from managing moorlands for grouse shooting.

I've always been conflicted between having an affinity for the moorland landscape I spent a lot of my younger years wandering and working in and the obvious lack of diversity, wildlife, trees, plants and insects that comes with heavily managing huge areas of land so that it is grouse friendly. 

Many of the people I meet from the rural communities around the moors still hold with the argument that this management is conserving and protecting nature, that the moors employ lots of people and that the income generated for the area make a positive impact in so many ways yet I see little in the way of actual evidence for this.  The millions of pounds in subsidies, the persecuting of anything that threatens the holy game birds and (perhaps more importantly to me) the attitudes of some (not all) of the gamekeepers towards access to what is now open access land leads me to think their must be a better way.

I've just read George Monbiots book, Feral, about the argument for rewilding.  It's an excellent read btw, though I'll reserve judgement on its conclusions til I have read more on the subject.

And they'll plough a fraction of it back into government ensuring we keep paying it through our taxes. Corruption not madness.

jk

The income forgone payments are highly questionable for the estates; it's nearer a publicly funded bribe not to completely intensify the moorlands. That being said our conservation objectives for wet heath etc needs to be reconsidered to accommodate climate change and the relative value of artificially preserved moorlands. 

Plenty of grouse moor around here and some input into the local economy via employing a few keepers and hospitality - all dwarfed by the local visitor/recreation trade. Meanwhile we have exacerbated flooding and predator persecution. 

Its because the common land is managed not by the lord of the manor but by a Court Leet which for our Court Leet is managed by 12 locals all of whom are generally farmers.  Because the don't own the land they manage they are only allowed to fine people for occupying it.  But of course you need permission from the Court Leet to occupy it or use it.  Its really cheap - around £20 will get a small field for a year.  They also manage any other commoner's rights such as the right to gather peat, fuel, sand & so on from the moorland and other bits of land owned by, in our case, Lord Strickland, Lord of the Manor of Fylingdales.

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=bV1mAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&a...