JIMMY Shuttlewood daren't miss going to church. At least that's his way of saying he needs all the help he can get to manage a fragile corner of ecology better known as a grouse moor.

As gamekeeper at the Snilesworth estate above Osmotherley, he can't take his eye off the ball.

It only needs one thing to go wrong and a dreaded "downward cycle" can begin.

This can be disastrous for sheep, grouse, other species and the moorland itself.

One element crucial to ongoing harmony is the state of the heather.

Mr Shuttlewood recently hit back at critics of the heather-burning policy on the moors. Landowners were accused of vandalism in destroying a habitat.

But this charge is roundly dismissed by Mr Shuttlewood and Catherine Ward-Roper, agent for the estate.

"Landowners are not burning heather to be vandals but for conservation measures for grouse and the moorland in general," she said.

"Some 75pc of the remaining heather in Europe is in the UK and it is a rare and valuable habitat. Without management, it will grow bracken and birch and this strangles the heather."

The estate covers 9,000 acres, of which more than 6,000 are moorland with marginal farms. Its main use is agriculture but it is also a sporting estate.

The grouse moor is its raison d'etre, providing the bulk of income most years.

"We either manage the moor or we don't," said Mr Shuttlewood. "If we don't, nature will do it for us and not always as we would like."

Ideally, the moor is broken up into blocks to avoid devastating fires, so that the most a blaze can do is affect a few acres at a time.

It is damage limitation and the moor needs to end up looking like a chessboard.

Heather is the key to sheep and grouse survival. Sheep eat longer heather, leaving younger shoots on which grouse thrive.

"We burn it for new growth," said Mr Shuttlewood. "If a grouse can't look over the top of the heather, it needs burning."

Grouse need heather in which to live, shelter and eat. It is one long cycle which can have upward and downward trends.

The North York Moors are on sandstone and heather grows quickly here. There is no food value if it gets higher than a grouse. When this happens, the females produce fewer eggs and also can't sit them for long enough. Then they can't rear the chicks as they don't have the energy. Grouse numbers fall and species which eat grouse start to avoid the area.

Sheep also start doing badly because the heather is in poor condition. Then they all migrate to easier areas which is bad for the land.

This is a downward spiral.

"To reverse it we have to burn," says Mr Shuttlewood, adding that this was done anytime between October and April, when the grouse started laying.

The moors swallow money. This is where shooting as a sport comes in.

Mr Shuttlewood is head gamekeeper and works with three assistants, covering about 2,000 acres each.

He expects to have from 200 to 2,000 brace of grouse over a five-year period. But this depends on many factors being in place.

A hunter will pay about £50 per bird plus VAT. A shooting party will have about five drives in a day, in which the birds are driven towards them. The chance of hitting the target is one in three.

The gamekeeper is keen to ward off claims of cruelty.

"If people didn't shoot the grouse, they would die anyway," he says. "As they mature they become territorial and the weak get pushed to the worst territory, starting a downward cycle. This is how it is.

"It is a sport and one which people enjoy. It is not the killing but the testing of skills and the participation. There is fun in the chase - more than achieving the goal."

At Snilesworth, a rich American has taken on moorland life as a hobby and is paying for expertise.

This all generates business as the hunters need helpers and some 30 people plus gamekeepers are needed on the day - creating local employment.

At one time, shooting parties stayed in a Victorian lodge on the estate, but now they patronise the pubs and guest houses nearby.

The season starts on September 1 to give the grouse extra time to grow, and ends on December 10.

Mr Shuttlewood says that for this year, there are good signs of a lot of young birds. There is also plenty of young heather and potentially the season should be 50pc up on last year.

Ms Ward-Roper says the gamekeeper has done "a fantastic job" in the two years he has been at Snilesworth.

After attending Conyers School in his home town of Yarm, Mr Shuttlewood developed a love of the moors.

"This is the only way - to smell the heather every day," he says. "It took me ten years to understand this environment and how it works. You can't do it just be reading up. You have to be here every day."

Ms Ward-Roper says impending new laws on access will be welcomed.

"We have no problems as long as dogs are kept under control - not just on a lead - and people are careful about fires," she says.

For the controlled burning, a large amount of labour is required - up to nine people a day.

"It is hard work controlling the flames," says Mr Shuttlewood.

As he surveys his domain - running like clockwork at present - he says: "I am one with this land. It is me."

As a lad he pestered nearby estates for work and worked more or less for nothing just to prove he was employable.

"I was getting a lot less than the average wage when I started 20 years ago but it was where I wanted to be," he says.

He says shooting as a sport is growing in popularity. One of about 30 gamekeepers on the North York Moors, his day starts at 4.30am.

"The moor tells me what mood it is in and I take it from there," he says. "I go home for breakfast then back out before lunch and maybe a nap. I get back home when it gets dark.

"The job you do any one day depends on what the moor is saying. You have to know how to read the signs."