Politicians and school pupils
have been given a rare insight into the recovery of one of Scotland’s most
loved and rarest birds – the black grouse.
Murdo Fraser MSP joined
landowners, Scottish Natural Heritage and government officials and Ardvreck
School pupils for a tour around Strathbraan in Perthshire, which houses
important numbers of black grouse.
The black grouse is a red-listed
species, with Scotland holding most of the UK population and, at this time of
year, males fight to display at the best ‘lek’ sites in a bid to attract
females.
Attendees at the first ever open
day hosted by Tayside and Central Scotland Moorland Group, learned how careful
land stewardship had seen populations rebound in the area.
They were also driven through the
local glen to see populations of endangered wading birds, with Strathbraan
defined as ‘nationally important’ for red-listed species such as the curlew:
Britain’s most urgent conservation priority.
Gamekeepers described how habitat
management and the legal control of abundant predators had helped to increase
the survival of rarer species such as black game and waders.
On one of the visited estates, a
20-year programme of woodland planting, grazing reduction, rotational heather
burning, predator and bracken control had seen black grouse rise from very low
numbers to around 50 male black grouse.
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