#glorious twelfth

[retrocgads]

UK 1983

[almanach-international]

12 août : le glorieux 12 août des Anglais

En Écosse et dans le Yorkshire, la chasse au lagopède rouge est déclarée ouverte. Connue comme The Glorious Twelfth, ce 12 août est un événement mondain, autant que populaire. Sa date est inchangée depuis le Scotch Game Act de 1773. Un chasseur confirmé se doit d'être au rendez-vous, si bien que la journée est une véritable hécatombe pour cet oiseau, à ne pas confondre avec le coq de bruyère dont la chasse n’est autorisée que le 1er octobre. Cela dit, le trophée réalisé par le Duc de Westiminster en 1915, 2929 tués avec huit fusils tout de même, n'est pas près d'être égalé, car l'animal se fait plus rare de nos jours et cete journée déclenche ici et là des manifestations anti chasse. L’ouverture de la chasse fait échos dans tout le royaume, jusqu’aux restaurants de Londres qui, dès demain, serviront au prix fort le red grouse, nom local du gibier.

Mais attention, en Irlande du Nord, The Glorious Twelfth fait souvent référence à une autre date, le 12 juillet.

Un article de l'Almanach international des éditions BiblioMonde

[dandelionsarenotfruit]

TIL from the documentary Quintessentially British that the English have a holiday called Glorious Twelfth and it's on August 12th and it's the first day of grouse-shooting season? Also the ptarmigan, according to Wikipedia. Hard to imagine a sentence as incredulously judgmental as, "I don't know ANYBODY who eats grouse on August the 12th!"

[lovespiritman]

GLORY

GLORY Yesterday, all our troubles seemed so far away As death stared us in the face we hoped, no way! But for all our glorious plumes and peaceful past This time of freedom, only to finish in one fly past?

Some call yesterday glorious, but maybe the last If we were unlucky enough to face a sure shot cast. We had achieved greater things than man will know We’ve flown above the plough, green fields…

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[woodburning]

[woodburning]

[thebiggirlloves]

The Glorious Twelfth

It's the 11th July which means one thing round these parts ... The boney (extra big bonfire) & lots of alcoholic drink to be consumed by those who are going to get up early tomorrow to watch the Orange Parades. Being that myself and my significant other are a 'mixed' marriage, we forego the silly bonfire (far too warm for that shit) and simply partake of the alcoholic beverage part of the tradition. Tomorrow morning we shall watch as various members of my family march the Queen's Highway and play some old tunes. Although I don't agree with all of 'the Glorious Twelfth',it is a family tradition and one that we enjoy together. No riots (sorry protests) round our wee town but definitely feeling for those who are enduring that. Happy 12th July to all my loyalist brethren...or Happy Friday to my fellow Irishmen (& women) :)

[astuartphotography]

52 Bird Species Project

Introduction

Welcome to the first post of my Blog.  To settle into the habit of writing a regular blog post I will mainly focus on this project, however  from time to time I will drop in an occasional post on other topics.  In addition you will be able to ask questions at any time and I will have polls, maybe quizzes and competitions too, only time will tell.

52 Bird Species Project

The basic premiss of this project is to shoot a different species of bird every week (in a photographic sense) for the next 12 months.

Bird N°1 - Red Grouse

Latin:  Lagopus lagopus scotica A medium sized bird of the grouse family which is found in heather moorland in Great Britain and Ireland. It is usually classified as a subspecies of the Willow Grouse but is sometimes considered to be a separate species Lagopus scoticus.

Description

The Red Grouse is differentiated from the Willow Grouse and Rock Ptarmigan by its plumage being a reddish brown, and not having a white white plumage.  The tail is black and legs are white. There are white stripes on the underwing and red combs over the eye.  Females are less reddish than the males and have less conspicuous combs.  Young birds are duller and lack the red combs.  Birds in Ireland are sometimes thought to belong to a separate subspecies L. l. hibernica. They are slightly paler than those in Britain and the females have yellower plumage with more finely barred underparts. This may be an adaptation to camouflage them in moorland with higher grass and sedge content and less heather.  It is identified by its 'chut!chut!chut!chut!chut!chuttt....' call, or the 'Goback, goback, goback' vocalisation. The wings make a whirring sound when the bird is disturbed from a resting place.  Grouse populations display periodic cycling, where the population builds up to very high densities only to crash a few years later, and then recover. The main driver of this cyclic pattern is thought to be the parasitic nematode worm Trichostrongylus tenuis.

Distribution and Habitat

Red Grouse are endemic to the British Isles; it has developed in isolation from other subspecies of the Willow Grouse which are widespread in northern parts of Eurasia and North America.  It is found across most parts of Scotland, including Orkney, Shetland and most of the Outer Hebrides. They are only absent from urban areas, such as the Central Belt, the flatter areas of the north-east and around Fife.  In Wales there are strong populations in places but their range has retracted. They are now largely absent from the far south, their main strongholds being Snowdonia, the Brecon Beacons and the Cambrian Mountains. There are reports of Welsh birds crossing the Bristol Channel to Exmoor.  In England it is mainly found in the north,  places such as the Lake District, Northumberland, County Durham, much of Yorkshire, the Pennines and the Peak District, as far south as the Staffordshire Moorlands. There is an isolated introduced population on Dartmoor, and overspill Welsh birds visit the Shropshire Hills such as Long Mynd, where they breed. The Exmoor population would now appear to be extinct, with the last birds sighted as recently as 2005. An introduced population in Suffolk died out by the early 20th century, though a population on Cannock Chase in Staffordshire lasted longer.  In Ireland it is found locally in most parts of the country: it is commonest in Mayo and on the Antrim plateau, with other healthy populations in the Slieve Bloom mountains and the Knockmealdown mountains;  a few pairs still breed in south County Dublin.  Its typical habitat is upland heather moors away from trees. It can also be found in some low-lying bogs and birds may visit farmland during hard weather.  The British population is estimated at about 250,000 pairs with around 1–5,000 pairs in Ireland. Numbers have declined in recent years and birds are now absent in areas where they were once common. Reasons for the decline include loss of heather due to overgrazing, creation of new coniferplantations and a decline in the number of upland gamekeepers. Some predators such as the Hen Harrier feed on grouse and there is ongoing controversy as to what effect these have on grouse numbers.

Diet

The Red Grouse is herbivorous and feeds mainly on the shoots, seeds and flowers of heather. It will also feed on berries, cereal crops and sometimes insects. The birds begin to form pairs during the autumn and males become increasingly territorial as winter progresses.  The nest is a shallow scrape up to 20cm across, which is lined with vegetation.  About six to nine eggs are laid,  mainly during April and May.  They are oval, glossy and pale yellow with dark brown blotches.  The eggs are incubated for 19 to 25 days, the chicks can fly 12 to 13 days after hatching and are fully grown after 30 to 35 days.

The Red Grouse and Humans

Considered a game bird and is shot in large numbers during the shooting season which traditionally starts on August 12, known as the Glorious Twelfth. There is a keen competition among some London restaurants to serve freshly killed grouse on August 12, with the birds being flown from the moors and cooked within hours. The flavour of grouse, like most game birds, develops if the bird is hung for a few days after shooting and before eating. Roasting is the most common way to cook a grouse.  Shooting can take the form of 'walked up' (where shooters walk across the moor to flush grouse and take a shot) or 'driven' (where grouse are driven, often in large numbers, by 'beaters' towards the guns who are hiding behind a line of 'butts'). Many moors are managed to increase the density of grouse. Areas of heather are subjected to controlled burning; this allows fresh young shoots to regenerate, which are favoured by the grouse. Extensive predator control is a feature of grouse moor management: foxes, stoats and crows are usually heavily controlled on grouse moors. Protected species, particularly raptors, can also fall foul of illegal control. The extent to which it occurs on grouse moors is hotly contested between conservation groups and shooting interests, and the subject generates a lot of media attention in relation to grouse moors and shooting.

Parasites and Viruses

In recent decades the practice of using of medicated grit and direct dosing of birds against an endoparasite, the strongyle worm or Threadworm (Trichostrongylus tenuis), has become part of the management regime on many moors.  Grouse may be infected by parasites and viruses which severely affect populations. Strongylosis or 'grouse disease' is caused by the strongyle worm, which induces damage and internal bleeding after burrowing into the cecum. This endoparasite is often eaten with the tops of young heather shoots and can lead to mortality and poor condition, including a decrease in the bird's ability to control the scent it emits.  Louping ill virus is a flavivirus (RNA virus), also known as sheep encephalomyelitis virus. Flaviviruses are transmitted by arthropods, and louping ill virus is transmitted by ticks. In Red Grouse, this virus can cause mortality as high as 78%.  The main tick vector is the sheep tick Ixodes ricinus. Although traditionally tick-borne diseases are thought to be caused when the parasite bites its host, it has been shown that Red Grouse chicks can be affected when they eat ticks with which they come into contact. This virus may be a significant factor in Red Grouse populations.

More Photographs on my web site     http://andystuartphotography.co.uk