SCOTTISH estates are likely to lose millions of pounds in bookings to shoot grouse after the wet summer killed off large numbers of young birds.

This Sunday is the traditional opening day of the grouse-shooting season, which is worth £30 million a year to the Scottish economy and supports hundreds of rural jobs, but estates are cancelling bookings.

Experts are predicting the early part of the season could be disastrous because of a shortage of birds in an area stretching from Angus glens to the Cairngorms and the Highlands.

Robert Rattray, of CDK Galbraith, the UK's biggest sporting agency with dozens of estates on their books, said Angus and Perthshire are the hardest hit areas and estates to the west of the A9 in the north of Scotland and those in Speyside will also be struggling.

He said: "May, June and July are the most important months for grouse breeding, but the weather in some areas has been terrible. Estates are currently in the process of doing their final counts, but many are not expecting good results."

Mr Rattray said some estates could stand to lose considerable amounts, with the value of a day's shooting worth up to £15,000.

He added: "Some in the drier areas, such as around Aviemore and Grantown, will be better and will still have grouse, but others are desperately readjusting their programmes. It means they will be cancelling bookings which are worth a lot to these estates."