.....with birds on the grouse shoot.

A gradual build up of summer visitors started in the first week of March when I heard a lonely curlew calling from the bog in front of the farmhouse.

The solitary whining song has now built to a crescendo, and I already know of 18 pairs nesting on the low ground below the moor.

Skylarks and meadow pipits seemed to fall out of thin air towards the end of March, closely followed by stonechats, wheatears and whinchats, and they all contribute a new element to the farm as a whole.

It seems impossible that just a few weeks ago, the only visible birds were fieldfares and starlings, and their departure has unplugged a flow of new arrivals.

Snipe and woodcock are present all year round, but as soon as the winter woodcock vanished, snipe in fluttering abundance came bursting out of the secretive undergrowth to drum and squeak high up overhead.

Now there are lapwings and oystercatchers and nesting gulls in the heather.

The trees are vibrating with green and greater spotted woodpeckers and singing cuckoos seesaw through it unashamedly.

When I started the project, I was ignorant of all but the most obvious bird species, but one of the first things I learned as a moorland keeper was the importance of knowing and understanding how every species interlocks with its neighbours.

Grouse belong in the centre of an enormous web of relationships, and it is energy wasted trying to help them without first understanding it.

It sometimes feels like an impossible challenge to learn how this unique moorland balance is achieved, but it's certainly a lot of fun trying.

The views expressed on Patrick Laurie's blog are the author's and not the views of Shooting Gazette, ShootingUK, IPC Media or its employees.

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