The Glorious Twelfth is the twelfth day of August, signifying the start of the

shooting Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or blowpipe). Even the acts of launching flame, artillery, darts, harpoons, grenades, rockets, and guided missile ...

season for

red grouse The red grouse (''Lagopus scotica'') is a medium-sized bird of the grouse family which is found in Calluna, heather moorland in Great Britain and Ireland. It was formerly classified as a subspecies of the willow ptarmigan (''Lagopus lagopus'') ...

(''Lagopus lagopus scotica'') in Great Britain and Northern Ireland, with the

ptarmigan ''Lagopus'' is a genus of birds in the grouse subfamily commonly known as ptarmigans (). The genus contains four living species with numerous described subspecies, all living in tundra or cold upland areas. Taxonomy and etymology The genus ''L ...

(''Lagopus muta'') also being hunted to a lesser extent during this period. The date itself is of traditional significance; the current

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred ...

enshrining it in England and Wales is the Game Act 1831 (and in

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

, the Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985). Not all game (as defined by the 1831 act) have the same start to their open seasons – most begin on 1 September, with 1 October for

woodcock The woodcocks are a group of seven or eight very similar living species of sandpipers in the genus ''Scolopax''. The genus name is Latin for a snipe or woodcock, and until around 1800 was used to refer to a variety of waders. The English name ...

and

pheasant Pheasants ( ) are birds of several genera within the family Phasianidae in the order Galliformes. Although they can be found all over the world in introduced (and captive) populations, the pheasant genera's native range is restricted to Eura ...

. Since English law prohibits game bird shooting on a Sunday, the start date is postponed to 13 August on years when the 12th falls on a Sunday. Because heather moorland is managed for shooting, the population density of red grouse is unnaturally high. However, supporters argue that moorland managed for grouse shooting typically contains high levels of biodiversity, including ground-nesting birds (such as lapwing,

curlew The curlews () are a group of nine species of birds in the genus ''Numenius'', characterised by their long, slender, downcurved bills and mottled brown plumage. The English name is imitative of the Eurasian curlew's call, but may have been infl ...

meadow pipit The meadow pipit (''Anthus pratensis'') is a small passerine bird that breeds throughout much of the Palearctic, from south-eastern Greenland and Iceland east to just east of the Ural Mountains in Russia, and south to central France and Romania; ...

, golden plover, redshank and

, in addition to red grouse) and raptor species. Diseases such as the sheep tick, heather beetle (which attacks the heather that several of these species eat) and the intestinal

parasite Parasitism is a Symbiosis, close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives (at least some of the time) on or inside another organism, the Host (biology), host, causing it some harm, and is Adaptation, adapted str ...

'' Trichostrongylus tenuis'' can impact population sizes. In recent years, the Glorious Twelfth has also been affected by hunt saboteurs, the 2001 foot and mouth crisis (which further postponed the date in affected areas) and severe flooding and bad weather. In some seasons, when certain moors are affected by low grouse numbers, shooting may not take place at all, or may be over by September. Some restaurants in London have for years prided themselves on being able to serve grouse on the Glorious Twelfth, with the birds being shot that morning and immediately transported to London via rail. This tradition persists to the present day, On 12 August 2024, Harry Cole noted that no restaurants in London were offering this service, reported the next day by ''The Telegraph'' to be caused by an "unusually cold" breeding season and unrealistically high prices.

References

{{English Game Hunting and shooting in the United Kingdom Grouse Annual events in the United Kingdom August observances

See also

References