Grouse rely on young heather as a food source (eating up to 50 grammes a day). They are not reared or released by gamekeepers but grow up in their natural environment on the moors.
Grouse are a short-lived species, with two out of three dying within one year of hatching, regardless of shooting.
Game birds such as grouse provide a healthy, fresh and natural source of food. The birds will all be eaten once harvested, having been sold through a game dealer or butcher. Grouse is high in protein, low in fat and free from artificial additives.
Grouse moors cover 1,500,000 hectares in the UK.
Grouse shooting takes place on moorland as far south as Wales and Derbyshire and as far north as the Highlands of Scotland.
Moors vary in size from 200 hectares to nearly 10,000 hectares with an average of 2,000 hectares.
In order to protect grouse numbers and other moorland birds, predators such as foxes, crows and stoats are controlled by gamekeepers.