Why moorland is a matter for us all

At the fourth Moorland Summit, conservationists of all stripes gathered to seek common ground in order to protect our moors and the species that rely on them

- RORY KNIGHT BRUCE

BENEATH a cloudless azure sky on the Lancashire moorland, not far from an abandoned stone barn, a diurnal short-eared or 'bog' owl is clapping its wings 50 feet above the ground. It is 'listening' for a vole, which is how it hunts: one ear unevenly placed above the other, circling and swooping until it is joined by a mobbing lapwing whose nest and young are hidden among the white grass and heather below. Welcome to nature's avian daily flight for survival.

A curlew in flight: these endangered birds are twice as likely to be found on managed grouse moors than outside of one

This 7,000-acre managed moor provides nature, sanctuary and a food supply for owl and lapwing alike. So, too, it does for curlew and oystercatchers and, as I was to find out over the next 24 hours as a guest of the fourth Moorland Summit, a myriad of other birdlife, insects and fauna. Organised by the well-known wildlife photographer and author Tarquin Millington-Drake, the 20 or so delegates and speakers were drawn from interested parties as varied and diverse as the moorland bird world itself.

"The main object of these summits is to educate those who have not witnessed the bird and human community a well-managed moor creates and, perhaps more importantly, to bring people who may never consider being in the same room together to do exactly that for the sake of Britain's wildlife," Millington-Drake told us. "My team of volunteers believes that the chief executives of today (of not just shooting but all conservation organisations), who represent members who all love birds and wildlife, are being irresponsible and letting the British wildlife-loving public down if they continue their feuds instead of talking to each other and seeking compromise and ways forward. While they argue, British wildlife collapses, so the talking and working together needs to start now, and that is what our guests are assembled to do."