700-900g (1½-2lb). Season: 12 August–10 December.
(Red grouse live on the high heather moors eating, besides heather, a number of other herbs and grasses that give them their special flavour. Native to Scottish moors, they are wild birds and cannot be hand-reared. However their survival can be enhanced by human ‘management’ of the areas in which they live. To create a mosaic of heather plants at various stages of growth for the grouse habitat, different areas of the hill are burnt each year to help them regenerate. This system provides plenty of young shoots important for their diet plus older well-grown heather as cover for nesting birds. Availability is variable depending on how well grouse moors have been managed and the weather. Cold wet conditions when the young chicks are vulnerable leads to fatalities. Grouse shoots are usually highly organised with groups of beaters driving the birds forward towards the guns.)