How bird lovers took aim at grouse shooters on Britain’s moors
by Jamie Doward in the Peak District from on (#GVBQ)
The shooting season blasts off this week - and Britain's gamekeepers have launched a new challenge to conservationists over managing the country's wildlife
On a grouse moor in the Peak District National Park thin white sticks protrude, marking the sites of small boxes containing medicated grit. Swallowed by the grouse to help their digestion, the grit is an ingenious way of getting the birds to take a course of antibiotics. But this year, it seems, the drugs don't work.
"Normally, I'd expect to see hundreds of grouse," said Tim Melling, senior conservation officer with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds as he walked on the moor last Friday. "It should be peak time just before the 12th of August. It definitely doesn't look like being a good year."
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