Upland Keeper

With the EMBER study and edicts from Natural England, damage is being done that means we are at risk of losing our cherished uplands

- Lindsay Waddell

If any of you thought that fake news and misinformation were only found in politics, you were wrong. I have never seen so much of it regarding grouse shooting in the run-up to, and on, the start of the season this year.

One contributor even stated that part of the management for grouse shooting was to drain the moors, then insinuated that this had contributed to the fires we had earlier this year (News, 3 March and 8 May). The fact that the drainage was done by the farming lobby, paid for by Defra and its earlier counterparts, had obviously passed them by.

Not only that, but the said drainage has been blocked up by the moor owners over the past 40 years, to the point that any sign of it has more or less gone. Salvo after salvo is being fired at driven grouse management all on the back of carbon capture.

Yet, as I headed over the border for a holiday in Galloway, what did I see? Acres of peat still being scraped from the ground for what I can only presume is horticulture. Any noise from the environmental lobby about that one? Not a jot. While the Scottish government is so critical of shooting, how can it allow that to continue?

Scientifically flawed