When black grouse were shot in Surrey
The black grouse season opens on 20 August. That’s become a piece of sporting trivia over the past few decades; there are hardly any places where these birds are still being shot. Even on the big highland estates where their numbers remain strong, only a tiny handful of them will find their way into the game larder.
The decline of black grouse over the 20th century has been staggeringly abrupt and it’s hard to get your head around how quickly these birds have vanished from many of their former strongholds. Once found in every county in Britain, they are now confined to a few pockets in Wales, northern England, the Southern Uplands and the Highlands. Even where they are present, they can be hard to find; encounters are often chancy and
