Cotherstone Moor Co Durham

It's a happy team of guns that leaves the moor having enjoyed a classic driven grouse day imbued with the camaraderie of close friends, kind weather, a dedicated team of shoot helpers and such a good show of wild birds. Conservation efforts in remote Baldersdale have helped to create habitat for a spectacular array of wildlife, as well as a surplus of red grouse

- ADRIAN DANGAR

FOLLOWING the narrow road above Balderhead Reservoir towards the heart of Cotherstone Moor reminds me of Talking Heads’ 1980s single Road to Nowhere, but then I pull into an isolated farmyard and discover rows of parked vehicles together with a swarm of beaters, keepers and picker-uppers preparing for an autumn driven grouse day. There are 33 different members of shoot staff one way or another, which is testament to the economic benefits generated by grouse moors in the remoter parts of Britain – and that’s without taking into account the impact visiting guns have on local businesses that include public houses, village shops and garages.

Cotherstone Moor in Co Durham is owned by the writer Viscount Ridley, who is also president of the Moorland Association. His estate extends to some 6,000 acres of white grass and heather moorland within a Site of Special Scientific Interest that is home to hen harriers, more than 200 breeding pairs of curlew and one of the healthiest blackgame populations anywhere in Britain. Much of this is thanks to the ongoing conservation work of local man Mark Gallagher, who came to Cotherstone as underkeeper in the millennium year before being promoted to the position of headkeeper in 2008.

Gallagher, who is also an energetic hill walker (last year, he managed to climb all 254 of England’s Nuttalls together with the Lake District’s 214 Wainwrights by Christmas), explains that the moor is capable of providing up to 20 driven grouse days in a really good year. “Although last year was a poor breeding one for grouse, things have been much better this time, with an average brood size of seven when we did our July counts,” he says. “This will be our eighth day so far this season.”