When Black Grouse Were Shot In Surrey

Populations of this special gamebird have suffered catastrophic declines but they were once pursued throughout Britain, says Patrick Laurie

- Patrick Laurie

The black grouse season opens on 20 August. That’s become a piece of sporting trivia over the past few decades; there are hardly any places where these birds are still being shot. Even on the big highland estates where their numbers remain strong, only a tiny handful of them will find their way into the game larder.

The decline of black grouse over the 20th century has been staggeringly abrupt and it’s hard to get your head around how quickly these birds have vanished from many of their former strongholds. Once found in every county in Britain, they are now confined to a few pockets in Wales, northern England, the Southern Uplands and the Highlands. Even where they are present, they can be hard to find; encounters are often chancy and unreliable. Far from shooting black grouse this season, most people will be lucky even to see one.

Black grouse have a long and illustrious sporting history in this country. There’s fair evidence to show how ancient people hunted black grouse with falcons and, while a mature blackcock is a hefty challenge for a peregrine, the birds were highly prized as a sporting quarry.

Thumped

I can remember walking up grouse on a day’s shooting near Blairgowrie when a blackcock rose from the heather near my feet and rushed away into the middle distance. It began to turn when it was half a mile out, and suddenly it was thumped from above by a falcon. Severely bruised and disoriented by the encounter, the wily old blackcock tumbled down from some height into the heather while the falcon flew in tight loops overhead. I never saw how the situation was resolved, but it made for a thrilling spectacle.