SHOOTERS will be out in the moors around Holmfirth and Meltham as the grouse season gets under way.

Some 200,000 birds are shot across England and Wales during the three-month season which begins on Tuesday – also known as the Glorious Twelfth.

The Moorland Association estimates hunters bring £1.5m into the economy of the South Pennines, which has nearly 25,000 acres of land for shooting.

But the League Against Cruel Sports has criticised grouse shooting.

Chairman John Cooper said: “It is utterly ridiculous to label an industry which depends on the mass slaughter of wildlife for entertainment purposes as glorious. Barbaric and immoral would be far more appropriate in the circumstances.

“In the coming days the apologists for this barbaric ‘sport’ will attempt to spin the lie that shooting is all about healthy, organic food.

“This is far from the truth, with very few game birds actually making their way on to the dinner table.”