hot grouse action

[lonehunter]

Mon August 11, 2003 09:56 AM ET LONDON (Reuters) - Even the grouse aretoo hot to fly in sweltering Britain and shooting parties may be hard pressed to find the birds when the traditional shooting season starts Tuesday. Britain baked in its hottest ever temperatures Sunday -- forecasters recorded a sizzling 100.8 Fahrenheit in southeast England -- as millions flocked to the beaches to enjoy the heatwave.And the grouse are feeling the heat too."The grouse just don't like flying when it is so hot. They just hunker down in the heather," said Amanda Anderson of the Moorland Association on the eve of the "Glorious Twelfth."August 12 is the traditional opening date of the season when moors echo to the sound of soaring grouse, tweed-clad shooters and clamoring beaters, who thrash the heather to flush out the birds."When it is extremely hot, the grouse tend to sit very tight. They lie low in the heather and they may not take off unless you get right up to them with either a beater or a dog," Anderson told Reuters Monday."But don't worry. Enough will get up and fly to give the guns a sporting chance," she said of the season so crucial to many rural estates at the center of what the Countryside Alliance has estimated is a 70-million pound industry.It is big business with wealthy clients flying in from all around the world. A day's shooting on a top grade estate can cost as much as $1,600 per person.
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