Black grouse back on moors after 200 years
New habitat is being prepared for the black grouse which, like its larger cousin the capercaillie, is facing serious threat of extinction.
A project to reintroduce black grouse to the North York Moors has begun after nearly 200 years.
Conservationists say the birds are largely restricted to the North Pennines, between the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland, and have been carrying out work to create a more suitable environment on moorland in North Yorkshire.
The project, led by the GWCT, aims to expand the birds’ range and recolonise areas where they once bred. The GWCT said while there had been “sporadic sightings” of black grouse in the North York Moors, there had been no record of them breeding there since the 1840s.
Project officer Dr Phil Warren said: “Natural recolonisation of black grouse to the North York Moors from the existing populations in the North Pennines is limited by the 30km gap across unsuitable lowland farmland habitats in the Vale of Mowbray, which is on the limit of the dispersal range.
“In recent years, occasional females have been seen, but no breeding recorded. We wish to help them re-establish here by moving birds to take advantage of habitat improvements and a likely more favourable climate, which is typically drier and warmer in June when chicks hatch.”
Black grouse are red-listed as a species of high conservation concern. The project will involve capturing the birds at night and relocating them immediately to a specially selected site on the North York Moors, with some fitted with radio transmitters to help track their movements.
The project is being led by researchers from the GWCT Uplands team and funded with £164,000 from Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme Capital Grant Scheme.
Lindsay Waddell, former chairman of the National Gamekeepers’ Organisation, told Shooting Times: “The protocol for the translocation of black grouse is now well established and has proven successful by the reintroduction of the birds to a number of sites where they have been absent for many years, indeed decades in some cases.
“It is important that the environment is correct before the birds are moved, and that includes legal predator control, which makes the edges of moorland managed for grouse shooting ideal. This work to increase the range of the bird in England is all the more important as the bird is under serious pressure north of the border due to loss of habitat to afforestation and predation.”
Black grouse are related to capercaillie (see p6), and both are under threat.
