Sunday 12 August 2007

The "glorious" twelfth?

There hasn't been a single mention of it being the "glorious" twelfth today. Well, not that I've noticed. Probably cos it's weekend, and it is only mentioned on the news during the week as a "filler". I don't know. It's not a date I can easily forget as one of my Grandad's died on the 11th of August. We went to a walk. Grandad was very poorly, and Dad was going to call in and see him before we went on our walk, the bedroom curtains were closed, so we walked and then called in. He died when we were walking on the moors. I remember the date well, as once the grouse shooting season starts, walking on the moors is restricted, depending on where the shoot is taking place that day. Being an inquisitive sort, I've just looked up on the web why everything seems quiet.
http://business.scotsman.com/topics.cfm?tid=964&id=1172622006
It seems there might be a lack of birds, but also in some places in the UK, the paths and moors could be closed as a safeguard against possible foot and mouth, as sheep graze a lot of the moorlands. Although I have just looked on DEFRAs website, and there it says only footpaths in the affected zone, and restricted zone are closed.
So, it must be a combination of the lack of birds and it being Sunday that have not made it newsworthy.

2 comments:

Sinclair said...

So what is the glorious twelfth? Is that the date the grouse shooting season begins or is that the 11th? It's clear as mud to me. :oP

Sea said...

Sorry, it's the day the grouse shooting starts. The twelfth of August, and the grouse are bred purposely, protected from predators.