The 2025 Grouse Season So Far…

We did not think it would be a very special Grouse season, given the very low place most Moros were in 2024 and with an albeit reasonably short spell of indifferent bad weather this spring.  However, the season has so far turned out to be surprising, but not always in a good way!

Very limited parts of the North Pennines have good quantities of Grouse, with one Dales Moor shooting 250 brace in a day. Nearby Moors have shot the odd day well in excess of 100 brace, but then again very close by Moors seem to have very few Grouse indeed and are shooting few days; this within sight of their neighbours who are enjoying some excellent days. 

However, overall the picture is poor and in some places (a lot) very poor.

There are only very modest numbers of Grouse in the Peak District and theirs will be a very short season.  Heather beetle here is widespread.  The amount of heather beetle this year is extraordinary, spreading well across much of the North of England Moorland areas.  Parts of Nidderdale have some Grouse (but not in the main many) and the North West Pennines is generally poor to very poor (but with overall much less beetle!). The picture in the North Yorks Moors is absolutely no better with only one/two Moors reporting any reasonable shootable surplus, but again beetle is very widespread, with whole hillsides orange rather than purple.  There is the same picture in much of East Northumberland and Durham.

There are the odd pockets of Grouse in pockets of Scotland (with some excellent brood averages, albeit not from big stocks). Therefore, whilst there will be some good shooting there, it probably will not last long. The Lammermuirs is generally pretty modest, with the odd Moor having a small shootable surplus.  Perthshire seems to be very mixed, with some Grouse but not masses and once you get further North, Invernessshire, Morayshire, Aberdeenshire, etc. are poor to very poor.  This is very sad after an awful 2024 and whilst there are more Grouse there, not that many.  Looking after these Grouse is going to be the difference between recovery and not, and too few Moors seem to be doing that.

It seems likely that the season will be over almost everywhere by mid-September and on probably half of the Moors in the Country, it will hardly start. However, in many areas there is a stock and if they are left alone and looked after with excellent levels of keepering, a good spring and early summer in 2026 should see many Moors in a very different position. It has been quite a long barren period now, but hopefully the end is in sight and with much better things to come next year, where heather beetle is not too much of an issue.

Article written by Mark Osborne