Grit Varieties

A grit station in Galloway

The Heather Trust has recently been looking into different kinds of grouse grit on behalf of one of our members, and the investigation revealed that the huge variation in different grits used not only across the country but also between different moors. 

Grouse consume a huge amount of grit at this time of year because it helps them to digest poor quality roughage, and a shortage of good grit can be a real problem for some populations of grouse. Even more fundamentally, grouse will travel long distances to gather the grit they need to digest their food, and it is safer for the birds if they are supplied with ready access to everything they need in each territory. With the exception of “direct dosing”, treated grit is the only effective way of medicating grouse against the damaging intestinal parasites which cause damaging strongylosis.

Moor owners have had different results using various different kinds of grit, from flint to quartz, but the variety between the different types of quartz makes room for controversy. Cornish quartz is available in a wide range of different grades, and some of the very fine grit which has been processed almost into sharp sand is surprisingly popular amongst grouse and moor owners. 

Scottish quartz can be rounder and quite nobbly in appearance, and many people argue that this is the best kind of grit, but there are so many different contenders that it is difficult to decide one way or another. There is even a kind of flaky, crumbly quartz which is quarried in Portugal which several moor owners are very keen on, and the variety is endless.

There is very little in the way of science to definitively determine which kind of grit is best for grouse, and it is generally believed that grouse will soon get used to using whichever type is most abundant and safest to access. It can take grouse a few seasons to get used to a new kind of grit, but the best advice is usually to stick to what they are used to.