Dead pheasant and partridge poults dumped in reservoir water supply by gamekeeper
- Grimwith Estate gamekeeper filmed throwing dead birds onto moorland and into stream, ahead of shooting season.
- The stream leads directly into Grimwith Reservoir – belonging to Yorkshire Water – in a designated conservation area.
- Inappropriate disposal of dead “livestock” creates unnecessary risks to wildlife, environment and human health.
The northern grouse moors host many reservoirs, owing to their location and topography. Many of the reservoirs stock the public water supply. Some of the surrounding grouse moors are owned directly by the water companies – others are simply neighbours. Grimwith is an example of the latter: a privately owned grouse moor, leading down to the Yorkshire Water reservoir.
During June 2023, a gamekeeper was seen attending pheasant and partridge release pens around the Grimwith Reservoir in the Yorkshire Dales National Park. Monitors noticed him taking dead birds from the pens and throwing them into the bracken, and even the stream close by. The monitors were able to video this, and subsequently check the area where he was seen.
Numerous dead birds were found decomposing in the stream, which flows directly into Yorkshire Water’s Grimwith Reservoir – a source of Yorkshire’s drinking water and a designated wildlife area.
Other dead poults were found on the saturated ground, potentially attracting predators. It was not possible to test the dead birds for their cause of death due to tight current regulations around Avian Flu. Any diseases they carried are unknown, but could easily be transmitted to local wildlife.
Casually throwing animal carcasses onto the moor and into the water shows a shocking disregard for human, animal and environmental health. Yet the shooting industry repeatedly claim that gamekeepers are “conservationists” who truly care for the environment. This is demonstrably untrue.
As penned poults, these young pheasants and partridges are classified as “livestock” (not wild animals). Therefore any dead birds should be disposed of according to DEFRA’s disposal of fallen stock legislation, but were clearly not. The incident was reported to the local authority.
Further, many of the release pens are on special conservation land falling under the European sites and 500m buffer zones – which mean licenses are required for release of Common Pheasant and Red-legged Partridge. An FOI has been submitted to enquire if the estate has the required license to release pheasants and partridges here.
The Grimwith Estate is privately owned by John Alexander Yorke and Charles Scrope Edward Yorke. However, the gamekeeper’s actions affect us all. Taxpayers pay huge subsidies to moorland estate owners for this “land management”. Residents pay for water supplies to be cleaned of the unnecessary pollution. Needless biohazards put precious local wildlife at risk.
Once again, the myth that gamekeepers are “custodians of the countryside” is shattered, by the gamekeepers’ own irresponsible and potentially illegal actions.
How to help:
Please contact Yorkshire Water and urge them to end their remaining associations with grouse shooting. Share our report and remind them how their shooting neighbours really behave when they think nobody is watching.
Please monitor the Grimwith Estate, near Pateley Bridge. This is the very same estate where a the gamekeeper kept an apparently illegal corvid trap, just a month earlier. You can visit Grimwith Reservoir and estate at BD23 5ED, next to Yorkshire Dales Sailing Club just off the B6265.
Some key locations to start with are:
Grimwith Moor – SE 06577 64953 – W3W flipping.tomato.handover
Nearest address: Red Scar Lead Mine, Backstone Lane, Hebden, North Yorkshire, BD23 5EE
Gate Up Gill – SE 05549 66516 – W3W practical.empty.mailer
Nearest address: Sandy Sike Head, Appletreewick, North Yorkshire, BD23 5ED
Shaws Dike – SE 07412 64429 – W3W venturing.admires.limit
Nearest address: High Shaws Well, Hebden Road, Appletreewick, North Yorkshire, HG3 5JL
Grimwith Fell – SE 07154 64187 – W3W flamed.detail.regretted
Nearest address: High Shaws Lathe, Hebden Road, Appletreewick, North Yorkshire, HG3 5JL
Let us know what you find!
moorlandmonitors.org 