THE Glorious Twelfth is the official start of the shooting season across Britain.
Here is all you need to know about one of the biggest days in the field sports calendar that falls on the 12th August each year.
What is the Glorious Twelfth?
On August 12 every year shooting enthusiasts crack open their gun cabinets and get ready for the start of a fresh season.
It marks the start of Britain’s shooting season and has been a key date in the countryside calendar for decades.
The game they hunt is grouse, with pheasants and other birds coming later on in the season.
Grouse shooting was started by the Victorians as early as 1853 and the red grouse which can be found only in Britain are the most expensive birds.
As a pricey pastime, many of the holidays can set hunters back thousands of pounds - the grouse shooting industry employs around 2,500 jobs and can make up to £150m every year.
What are the rules?
The grouse season lasts 121 days and they may not be shot on a Sunday.
Grouse, regarded as the “king” of game birds are highly prized owing to the short time they are in season and the incredible speeds they fly at.
They can rocket across the moors at speeds of up to 70 miles an hour often keeping relatively low to the ground.
The canny critters also have a habit of switching direction at the last second.
It is also big business generating around £150million for the economy every year.
The industry also supports approximately 2,500 full-time equivalent jobs - from gamekeepers and beaters to people in tourism and hospitality.
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Why is it controversial?
Grouse are reliant on heather on the moorlands where they reside, they eat the young shoots and use the older stems to make nests and shelter.
Supporters of the shooting industry argue that burning the heather helps to encourage further growth and maintain the grouse's source of food and shelter.
However, environmentalists say that this practice endangers other wildlife and contributes to global warming.
They also maintain that the landowners kill the natural predators of the grouse to maintain the lucrative levels of grouse on their land.
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