It's looking black for rare grouse

Graham Holliday seeks out the very rare black grouse

The black grouse is one of Scotland's rarest, yet most spectacular birds. It can be found throughout much of mainland Scotland and in the Inner Hebrides.

Like the similarly rare but far larger capercaillie, the males, or black cocks as they are often called, come together to perform lekking displays designed to impress the females (greyhens).

They gather in forest clearings, make eerie bubbling noises, hold their heads down low and show off their white tails.

Black grouse, which are about the size of a hen, lek year round, but it is during springtime that the activity intensifies and the greyhens congregate to seek a mate.

The predominantly black coloured males, which also have a distinctive red wattle above the eye, play no part in the nesting process or in the rearing of the young.

The nest is usually built on the ground. The female produces between six and 11 brown speckled eggs in late April and incubation lasts about 25 days. Young black grouse are quick learners. The female feeds them on the first day, but they are capable of feeding themselves from day two.

The Scottish population has been in decline since the 1970s and there are now just 6,500 breeding males in the United Kingdom as a whole. The main threats comes from changes in agriculture and more intensive grazing.

The Forestry Commission for Scotland ensures that design plans, tree felling and replanting take into account the habitat requirements of the black grouse. Work programmes are scheduled to avoid ...

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• By : Graham Holiday
• In : Wildlife
• Issue : 22
• Page : 22
• Words : 868