Glorious Twelfth opens British game season

Probably the most important date in the shooting man’s diary is 12 August. The date – known as the Glorious Twelfth in sporting circles – marks the beginning of the game season in Britain.

Across the country, sporting estates buzz with excitement as shooters, keepers, beaters and dogs prepare for the big day.

With luck, the moors and uplands will be looking their best, with heather flowering in its full purple glory and skylarks in full song under a blue, high summer sky.

Grouse shooting at Swinton Park, North Yorkshire

Mark Cunliffe-Lister and his dog, Myrtle

Rain was forecast, but it hasn’t arrived. Instead a late summer sun beats down on the Yorkshire moors, creating a shimmering heat-haze above the purple carpet of heather.

The silence is disturbed only by the hum of bees and the distant cry of a kestrel. The scene is one of unchanging, undisturbed and unparalleled British countryside.

There is more to this timeless scene, however. It is the first day of the grouse-shooting season (traditionally 12 August) at the Swinton Park estate in North Yorkshire and, strung out behind a low stone wall, a line of nine guns is waiting.