Heather burning and red grouse
Using specialist machinery heather burning is now a more efficient and safer process.
KEY FINDINGS
Rates of heather burning have increased in recent decades and concerns have been expressed by some that this may be impacting upon sensitive upland ecosystems such as blanket peat. Grouse breeding densities were not higher on moors where there was more heather burning, but breeding success was higher. Increased heather burning can be justified in terms of grouse moor economics, but we have no information on the impact on other ecosystem services
Dave Baines David Newborn Mike Richardson Gail Robertson
48 | GAME & WILDLIFE REVIEW 2016
Rotational burning of moorland vegetation is considered by most grouse moor managers to create structurally diverse habitat that helps maximise red grouse abundance for shooting by increasing the number of breeding territories that a moor can support. Hence, with arguably faster heather growing rates following general reductions in sheep grazing and an increasing use of specialised tractor mounted cutting, flailing and fire-controlling equipment that permits safer burning during dry conditions and better ignition during damp ones, burning rates have increased in the last decade. Consequently, there is growing concern that these increasing levels of burning, especially on designated sites of national and international habitat conserva- tion status, and particularly on deep peat, are impacting upon upland ecosystems. Described impacts, some of which are the subject of bitter contention, include reduc- tions in carbon sequestration following removal of peat-forming vegetation, especially species of Sphagnum moss, release of dissolved organic carbon into streams and rivers and flash flooding.
In the face of these growing concerns, we sought to establish whether there was an economic-based justification in terms of higher grouse production that may explain grouse managers’ decisions to escalate their burning rates. To do this, we examined the influence of burning on heather height and structure, and on grouse density and breeding success at 36 moors in northern England. Driven grouse shooting was practiced on all moors and on each moor, full-time gamekeepers were employed not only to burn heather, but also to control generalist predators of grouse and strongyle worms that parasitize grouse and can cause boom-bust population cycles. On each moor, grouse were counted within 100 hectare (ha) blocks in spring to estimate the number of pre-breeding pairs and again post-breeding in July to count young and adult grouse. We measured vegetation composition, structure and its height, together with peat depth using a one-metre probe, at 100 points along a pair of transects running through each grouse count area. We used the collective measures of peat depth to assign each count area as either heath, where at least 50% of measures were less than 40cm of peat, or blanket bog, at least 50% of measures greater than or equal to 40cm. Heather height showed greater variation on moors where more heather was burned and this relationship was similar on moors that were predominantly of deeper
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© Laurie Campbell
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