Grouse gurus. Top Shots 2015. Jonathan Kennedy

The mantle of the grouse guru rests lightly on these 10 shoulders. But they tumble birds with deadly accuracy. It is sport enough to watch them on the hill grouse shooting this season. An exceptional clutch of our top shots 2015. TOP SHOTS 2015: GROUSE GURUS Nick Baikie A former…

ONE USE

The merlin, Britain’s smallest raptor, is doing well on managed grouse moors. The respected British Trust for Orni-thology maps the bird’s distribution in England regularly, while the Moorland Association (MA) assiduously keeps records of where gamekeepers work in the uplands. A neat, comparative study commissioned by the MA and conducted…

The British Trust for Ornithology’s Atlas data shows that merlin numbers have significantly increased on moorland managed by gamekeepers in the last 20 years and conversly fallen by a similar amount in other upland areas. Head keeper Fred Mitchinson is delighted. “I take great pride in knowing I have had…