'National Parks' in name only
'Safe havens for nature' ruined by shooting estates and animal farming
Long-term subscribers to the Protect the Wild and End Bird Shooting Substacks may have noticed that we often use lower-case and quotation marks when we write ‘national parks’. We do so because the UK’s parks are a long, long way from being the “protected area of land, recognized for its exceptional natural beauty, diverse wildlife, and cultural heritage, designated for conservation and public enjoyment” that most of us assume and expect a National Park to be.
National Parks were created via the 1949 National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act. There are now 15 ‘national parks’ in the UK – 10 in England (covering 10% of the land area), three in Wales (covering 20% ) and two in Scotland (7.3%). ‘National parks’ should be key to Britain meeting its commitment to protecting 30% of land and sea for nature by 2030, but a 2024 ‘Health Check’ report by the Campaign for National Parks (CNP) confirmed that malaise and mismanagement ran through the entire national park system.
Their funding slashed by successive governments, just 6% of combined national park land in England and Wales was being managed effectively for nature, the report found. The CNP reported that peatlands, which store carbon and cover 43% of the land within national parks, were in poor condition (an estimated 1% of Dartmoor’s deep peat area was said to be in a healthy condition). There had been virtually no change in woodland coverage across national parks in the five years to 2020 (despite the recognition of the role forest plays in carbon storage and increasing biodiversity), and the 47% of rivers in national parks judged in “good” health in 2013 fell to 39% in 2022.
In some cases, species and habitats were in a worse condition within national parks than they were outside them.
Grouse shooting and raptor persecution
That ‘malaise’ is down to the landowners who own and manage the parks. While many of us might expect the various ‘national park authorities’ (NPAs) to have the overall say in how the parks are run, in terms of landowning they are quite marginal with relatively small areas under their immediate control. The Lake District NPA owns just 3% of the land, for example. The Northumberland NPA owns a tiny 0.2%, with the majority of the land owned by the MoD and the Forestry Commission, but with large chunks also owned by Ralph Percy, 12th Duke of Northumberland, and his family, who run extensive shoots like Linhope inside the park.
Even though it is (legally) the planning authority for the park, the Peak District National Park Authority owns just 4% of the land. While the National Trust owns another 11%, much of the Peak District is owned, managed, burnt, and shot over by wealthy landowners like the Duke of Rutland (who owns the trashed Moscar Moor) and Sir Philip Naylor-Leyland (who lives in a stately home near Peterborough and runs the Fitzwilliam Hunt).
Where there is shooting, there is raptor persecution. In April 2023 a statement by the Peak District National Park Authority announced that the Peak District Bird of Prey Initiative - intended to restore populations of birds of prey (or raptors) in the park to 1990s levels - was to close as persecution cases continued. (See ‘Sun sets on failed Peak District Bird of Prey Initiative’.)
Both the Yorkshire Dales National Park (which published a report in 2024 which detailed raptor persecution 'incidents' but refused to acknowledge who was to blame), and the North York Moors National Park are dominated by grouse shooting. Approximately 80% of the latter ‘national park’ is privately owned (the North York Moors National Park Authority owns less than 1%), and as well as shooting it is used by numerous fox hunts (including the Sinnington, Derwent, Hurworth, Middleton and the Ampleforth Beagles).
Raptor persecution is a particular problem in these parks. 56 out of 62 incidents of crimes against birds of prey reported in National Parks took place in just three of them: the Peak District, the North York Moors and the Yorkshire Dales. All three are predominantly managed for grouse shooting.
North Yorkshire as a whole is notorious as a 'black hole' for birds of prey. Undoubtedly a beautiful and evocative part of the UK, the county has become synonymous with the illegal persecution of raptors. In July 2020 the Yorkshire Post printed a list of SIXTEEN raptor persecution incidents from just January 2018 to July 2020. In September, they followed that up with an article looking at what has become known as ‘The Hartoft Mural’.
Painted by Nicky & Simon Johnston, who live in the village of Hartoft in the North York Moors National Park, the mural overlooks a grouse moor. Featuring Hen Harriers, a Goshawk, a Red Kite, Kestrel, Peregrine Falcon, Merlin and a Buzzard, the artwork’s message is unmissable. As the Yorkshire Post puts it, “Two retired teachers with a passion for wildlife conservation have sent out a message to criminals who persecute birds of prey“.
Dartmoor
An ‘Age of Extinction’ article by Phoebe Weston in The Guardian this week confirms that Dartmoor is in a similarly poor state. In April this year, Natural England released its latest assessment of Dartmoor’s three largest protected sites, which cover nearly a quarter of the national park. The results show just 0.1% of them are in a favourable condition. The amount of land area in an unfavourable and declining condition has doubled since the last assessment in 2013, the report stating that “overgrazing, undergrazing of key livestock (e.g., early summer hardy cattle), overburning, peat cutting, and drainage” were each contributing to the issue.
A 15 July 2025 Guardian opinion piece by Chris Packham also looking at Dartmoor opened with the ominous words that “Britain’s uplands are dying. What should be some of the very best places for nature are the absolute worst”, describing parts of the park as “over-grazed, sheep-infested ecological disaster zones”.
Monitoring data in Dartmoor suggests heather cover has dropped from 25% to 1% in some areas in recent years. The ‘park’ used to be known for its diverse birdlife, but breeding populations of Golden Plover, Red Grouse and Ring Ouzel have disappeared, or are on the verge of local extinction. The Curlew, the gamekeepers’ favourite bird because of its usefulness for scapegoating foxes, used to have its southern stronghold in Dartmoor; in Devon, the Curlew breeding population has declined by 85% since 1985.
Why should this be? While the situation is complicated by commoners’ rights, Dartmoor ‘national park’ is a patchwork of land owned by various individuals and organisations, including the Duchy of Cornwall (by far the largest landowner), South West Water, the Forestry Commission, and numerous private landowners. The Dartmoor National Park Authority controls around 3500 acres, just 1.5% of the land.
The remarkable Guy Shrubsole detailed the ownership of Dartmoor on his ‘Who Owns England’ website. He lives there, and his experiences and data make up much of the Guardian article, which states that
“At the root of the issue is land ownership. Most land within national parks is privately owned and, particularly in the uplands, used for grazing by farm animals. In Dartmoor, just 7.5% of land is publicly owned, and conservation is seen as secondary to economic interests.”
Along with sheep (there are grazing rights for over 145,000 sheep inside the park) one bird species is actually doing very well on Dartmoor: the non-native Common (or Ring-necked) Pheasant. Dartmoor is riddled with shoots (and incidentally fox hunts including the South Devon, Mid Devon, Dartmoor, and Spooner’s & West Dartmoor). One notorious shoot is run by hedge-fund manager Alexander Darwall, who owns the 4,000-acre Blachford Estate. Darwall hit the headlines when he attempted to stop wild camping on Dartmoor. Central to Darwall’s argument was his alleged concern for conservation on the moor, something undermined by his Cornwood Shoot’s advertising
“driven days from 250 up to 400 birds. Double guns can be arranged. We normally do 4-6 drives in a day but Back to Back days can be offered, providing around 250 birds per day. We can also arrange double days with our neighbouring shoots”.
Shooting “doesn’t get much better than this”, apparently, though the claim is made by umpteen shoots up and down the country, as we have revealed on the bloodbusiness.info website.
The Great Fulford Estate nails just how our ‘national parks’ are being used, saying “Devon, and particularly Dartmoor and Exmoor, are known to produce some of the finest pheasant shooting in the country.”
Shooting must end
Though the Guardian article doesn't look at shooting specifically, Phoebe Weston writes, “The quiet crisis unfolding here is not isolated but repeated across UK national parks. Understanding what is happening means looking more closely – not just at the beautiful scenery, but all that is missing too.”
We may dispute that these are ‘beautiful landscapes’ (they should be, but mile after mile of burnt heather doesn't appear beautiful to us), but otherwise Phoebe Weston is absolutely right. There is so much missing from the UK’s ‘national parks’, including birds of prey and a whole suite of the predators that are essential to healthy ecosystems.
And that is not the ‘fault’ of the national park authorities but of landowners like the Percys, Manners, Darwall et al - the people ensuring (or at least trying to ensure) that so much of the UK’s most precious landscapes are being used to rear and kill pheasants, partridges, and grouse.
Chris Packham ended his opinion piece writing that “Our uplands need a healthy future, and that future starts with change – radical, urgent and unapologetic.” Our uplands and our ‘national parks’ are in many instances exactly the same thing. Both need radical change to protect them.
Everlasting shame on all those who deliberately harm any form of wildlife - they should be exposed and brought to to face the law - if only the law worked as it should.
I'm utterly sickened by these people who are he'll bent on killing and destruction.