Strutting black grouse still in the red
While conservation work is turning the bird's fortunes around in Wales and north England, populations in Scotland are still in steep decline.
Survey results
A new survey shows that numbers of this spectacular bird, best known for its spectacular, dawn mating display or 'lek', have dropped by 22 per cent in Britain and in Scotland alone, by 29 per cent in ten years. In northern England, populations are stable. Black grouse have been most successful in Wales, where intensive habitat management has helped the small population increase by 39 per cent.
Reasons for the decline
Dr Mark Avery, RSPB Director of Conservation said: 'The black grouse has been hit very hard because the open woodlands and grassy and heathery hills where it lives have been planted with too many exotic conifer trees or nibbled at by too many sheep and deer.
Black grouse have been most successful in Wales, where intensive habitat management has helped the small population increase by 39 per cent
'Increases in Wales, and a levelling off of declines in northern England, show that black grouse benefit from good habitat management.
'The steep decline in Scotland is very worrying though and if that trend continues, the species faces catastrophe. The black grouse is one of the hardest species to help because of its particular habitat requirements, but improvements in Wales show it is possible to reverse the bird's decline with the right management.'
The black grouse was once found in many English counties and as recently as the 1960s, was seen as far south as Exmoor and Dartmoor. The species has retracted northwards since then and the continuing British decline has left only around 5,100 male birds.
Conservationists say the biggest factors in the black grouse's decline are changes to land management and the maturation of commercial conifer plantations. The latter has reduced food for both adults and chicks, because light is being excluded from undergrowth.
Areas of success
In Wales, where black grouse have done well, EU money is enabling land managers to help the birds by creating more varied habitats on forest edges.
And in northern England, where black grouse are found on the fringes of moors, managed for red grouse shooting, funds from an agri-environment scheme, run by Defra, have helped black grouse by encouraging landowners to plant native woodlands, restore traditional hay meadows and reduce grazing pressure on moors.
Dr Avery said: 'The black grouse has been made one of the highest priorities for conservation action by the UK government and much good work has been done. But we need to restore more forest and moorland in the right kind of way before we can be sure that the black grouse is safe.'
Dr Dave Baines, Director of Uplands Research at The Game Conservancy Trust said: 'It is encouraging that numbers are stable in northern England and east Scotland, areas where grouse moor management has been retained as a primary land-use, though the news is far worse in southern Scotland.
'It would appear that management for red grouse through conserving heather moorland habitats and controlling key predators such as foxes, stoats and crows benefits this ground-nesting bird.'
What is being done
Dr Steve Gregory, Research Purchasing Manager for The Forestry Commission said: 'We are working with Biodiversity Action Plan partners throughout Great Britain, including the RSPB, to try to ensure that this charismatic species recovers and thrives.
'Our grant schemes offer generous funds to encourage landowners to undertake work to improve biodiversity and may be used to create or improve black grouse habitats. We are also working at a number of sites on our own landholdings to restore and improve black grouse habitats.'