Research and investigations

Investigations are one of the most powerful tools we have to expose the routine persecution of wildlife and damage to the environment on some of the UK’s most remote grouse moors.

The power of undercover investigations

Our research and investigations document and help end damaging practices ranging from trapping, snaring and killing of wildlife to the widespread burning of fragile peatland ecosystems. They are frequently featured in the media, persuading policy-makers in companies and government to bring wildlife persecution and environmental damage to an end and help create a new, wilder future for the UK’s upland landscapes.

A national impact

Since we were founded in 2014, Wild Moors has documented practices on grouse moors across the UK’s uplands. The footage we have obtained has helped launch major campaigns that have placed focus on the way wildlife is persecuted and the environment damaged to provide large numbers of grouse for sports shooting.

Some of our investigations have been first of their kind looks into the secretive grouse shooting industry. In 2020, Wild Moors used undercover cameras to document the illegal trapping and killing of a rare goshawk on a grouse moor in North Yorkshire — one of many incidents of wildlife crime which take place in the uplands. In conjunction with Greenpeace Unearthed, we used satellite tracking to reveal the widespread burning of protected peatlands, igniting conversations about the way the uplands are intensively managed for grouse shooting.