Inglorious Twelfth? Calls for grouse season to be banned to prevent wildfires and peatland damage

As London restaurants say wild birds are smaller and fewer this year, experts say countryside should not be ‘playground for bloodsports’

Every year on 12 August, fans of traditional British cuisine flock to plush restaurants in Mayfair to dine on grouse served with bread sauce and game chips.

But those hoping to find the small wild birds, sourced from the UK’s moorlands, may be disappointed. Wildfires have been raging on moors across the UK, burning habitats and incinerating wildlife after record-breaking heat has turned the landscape into a tinderbox.

The intensive management of grouse moors involves the draining of peatland and the burning of the vegetation that grows on it. Environmental experts argue that doing this creates the conditions for wildfires as dry peat acts as fuel and smoulders for extended periods, making fires almost impossible to extinguish.

Because of this, the Green party in Scotland, where there are a large number of grouse shoots, has called for the Glorious Twelfth – the traditional start of the grouse shooting season, before which time they cannot legally be hunted – to be banned. The UK government recently banned the burning of vegetation on deep peat in order to preserve these habitats.

The climate crisis, caused by pollution from burning fossil fuels, makes every heatwave more likely and intense. The heatwave at the end of June was the most severe ever recorded in Europe and would not have been possible without human-caused global heating.

The chef Richard Corrigan, who owns both Corrigan’s and Bentley’s in Mayfair, has always served grouse during his multi-decade career running kitchens. But this year, they are in short supply.

He said: “I was hoping to get something on the 12th, it’s looking like it’s running a week and a half late. They will be smaller and fewer, which is fine and it is a treat. We should treat them with the respect they deserve.

“The hot weather hasn’t helped everything this year, that’s for sure.”

Corrigan will be finding it more difficult than some chefs to get birds for the table because he has become more particular about who he buys grouse from. “We now insist [birds] come from small estates rather than the large shoots, where dozens are shot at a time. I am not too sure I agree with the large shoots. I would rather people shoot wild animals for the table rather than shoot for the sake of having a day out.”

He also refuses to buy grouse from any moor that has been associated with raptor persecution – the shooting or poisoning of birds of prey to artificially boost grouse numbers. “Something that has really annoyed me is the killing of raptor birds on the estates. They are being poisoned by people on these estates. I would never buy grouse from those estates. We all know who they are,” Corrigan said.

The chef, who grew up in County Meath, Ireland, said the management of the moors has led to them being more susceptible to wildfires. “I was brought up in moorland, I am very aware of the heather and the turf, they need the wetlands to be restored to keep the moors in good shape. Some estates have taken it all a bit too far and have turned it into factory grouse shooting operations.”

While some will be serving their grouse with bread sauce and game chips, which are deep-fried, thin slices of potato, Corrigan is going to dish out a lighter option. “They will be on the menu barbecued with peaches and jalapeno. There is nothing better to eat than peaches from Provence and little spatchcocked grouse.”

Henry Harris, the chef-owner of Bouchon Racine in Farringdon, London, said he was keeping his fingers crossed that he would receive grouse this week from his supplier. “I will know today whether there’s been a problem. If they fly, they will be shot. If it is too hot they will not fly. If the weather really is too hot, they tend to struggle to drive them up into the air which will mean there are less birds out there.”

He added that he was concerned about the wildfires and their impact on moorland wildlife, including grouse. “People do expect us to serve it, it is very popular,” he said. “We had a queue for them last year.”

Unlike Corrigan’s untraditional peach and jalapeno recipe, Harris said he will be “serving it very traditionally with a slight Gallic twist on a lovely piece of sourdough toast with a bit of pate, armagnac sauce, bread sauce and game chips”.

Ariane Burgess MSP, the rural affairs spokesperson for the Scottish Greens, will not be joining the queue. She said the countryside should not be “managed as a playground for bloodsports”, adding that the moors of Scotland were “intensively managed so that grouse can be killed for entertainment”.

She added: “Scotland’s land is one of our greatest assets. It should be supporting thriving rural communities, restoring nature and tackling the climate crisis, rather than serving as a private playground for the wealthy few.

“The real glorious future for Scotland’s moors would be seeing wildlife flourish on them, peatlands restored and rural jobs created through the recovery of our natural environment.”