Читать книгу The North York Moors. 50 walks in the National Park онлайн

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Moorland management required vegetation to be burnt periodically, and as heather seeds are more fire-resistant than other seeds, heather cover quickly became dominant. Drainage ditches were also dug to dry out boggy ground and encourage further heather growth. Heather was burnt and regrown in rotation to provide short heather for feeding and deep ‘leggy’ heather for shelter. Gamekeepers were employed to shoot or trap ‘vermin’, so that grouse could flourish free of predators; however, it remains difficult to control intestinal parasites that often result in the birds being in poor condition. Harsh winters and cold wet springs can also cause devastating losses among the grouse population. What’s more, old paths used by shooting parties have been widened for vehicular use, sometimes rather insensitively.

Come the Glorious Twelfth, or 12 August, the grouse-shooting season opens with teams of beaters driving the grouse towards the shooters, who station themselves behind shooting butts. Some moorlands charge very high prices for a day’s shooting, and shoots are very much a social occasion. Walkers who despise blood sports should, nevertheless, bear in mind that without grouse shooting the moors would not be managed and would revert to scrub. A lot of moorland has been lost to forestry and agriculture, and managing the moors for shooting prevents further loss. What remains today is England’s greatest unbroken expanse of heather moorland, and most visitors are keen to see it preserved.