Black Grouse in Trouble: A Moorland Bird in Decline

Paper: Conserving Black Grouse Lyrurus tetrix in southern Scotland: evidence for the need to retain large contiguous moorland habitat within a forest-moorland landscape

Research shows a dramatic fall in Black Grouse numbers across southern Scotland over the last 30 years - and highlights the importance of large, well-managed moorland to their survival.

Between 1989 and 2018, the number of male Black Grouse at monitored leks dropped from 70 to zero in southwest Scotland, and from 340 to just 44 in the southeast. That’s an 82% loss of lek sites - where males gather to display and attract mates.

The remaining birds are sticking to areas with traditional moorland features: open rough and acid grassland, heath, and bog. These places had less conifer woodland, which is known to fragment grouse habitat.

Encouragingly, leks supported twice as many males where driven Red Grouse shooting was active - likely due to predator control and better-maintained moorland vegetation.

Size matters too. Moorland patches still used by Black Grouse were, on average, 26 times larger than those where the birds had disappeared. Large, connected areas of open ground are clearly essential.

But with ongoing tree planting across Scotland, many remaining moorland areas risk becoming further broken up - reducing the chances for this iconic bird to recover.

Takeaway: If Black Grouse are to survive in southern Scotland, we must protect and manage large, connected areas of traditional moorland.

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