A PROMINENT North York Moors landowner said today's "Glorious Twelfth" would signal the start of a great grouse shooting season.

George Winn-Darley, chairman of the North York Moors Moorland Association, which organises shoots, said grouse numbers were up on previous years, and that a killer parasite, which has affected numbers in the North East, was not expected to have an impact in North Yorkshire.

The bug, called trichostrongylus, is not thought to have affected birds on the North York Moors, and the region's popularity is expected to soar among shooters.

The bug thrives in heather in wet weather and eventually attaches itself to the bird's gullet, starving it to death.

"Obviously last year we were in the thick of the foot and mouth crisis so there were not that many shoots about," Mr Winn-Darley said.

"It is quite encouraging that this aspect of the rural economy is making a pleasing recover after last year's crisis."

But he said the season could potentially be blighted by a different type of grouse killer.

"Up in the North York Moors we suffer from Louping Ill, which is a blood-born virus spread by sheep ticks," he said.

"Once it gets into the grouse's blood it is fatal. Hopefully, this will not be a problem this season."

Updated: 12:02 Monday, August 12, 2002