Large areas of moorland, especially in eastern Scotland and northern England, are managed for red grouse shooting. Compared with other moors, the grouse moors have a distinctive breeding bird community with relatively high abundances of Curlew, Golden Plover, Lapwing and Red Grouse and relatively low densities of Meadow Pipit, Skylark, Whinchat and Crow (Tharme et al. 2001).

Rotational burning of heather strips is the principal tool in the management of grouse moors for it increases the availability of young nutritious shoots for grouse. Phillips and Watson (1995) argue that there has been a marked reduction in the quality and amount of muirburn in recent decades. Locally, and possibly regionally, this could be a significant negative factor for Red Grouse and Golden Plover which Tharme et al. (2001) found were associated with heather burning.

On the other hand, Meadow Pipits appear to increase as burning becomes less intense and this in turn may lead to higher breeding densities of Hen Harriers and potentially more conflict with grouse-rearing interests (Smith et al. 2001). Interestingly, there is also evidence that muirburn may lead to more diverse bird communities on moorland (Smith et al. 2001).