WHAT DO BLACK GROUSE NEED?

Complex mosaics of habitats are ideal, with contrasting open and forested, damp and drier areas.

1. SHORT GRASSLAND

Black grouse lek on close-grazed areas with no fences and good views of their surroundings. They like unimproved pasture, such as the ‘ inbye’ fields on upland farms, just below the open hill.

2. HEATHER

Heather, especially over 40cm tall, is used for roosting and by females sitting on eggs and guarding chicks. Heather shoots are also a winter food. But solid blocks of ‘ blanket’ heather moorland stop chicks moving around.

3. BOGGY ZONES

From February to April, females fatten up on cotton-grass buds; in summer, chicks are led there to hunt insects; and in late summer and autumn the grouse eat rush and sedge seeds.

4. MIXED TREES

Unlike their red relatives, black grouse feed in trees. Larch, Scots pine, birch, rowan and hawthorn are all important, but commercial conifers are avoided.

5. FOREST EDGE

Where more light reaches the ground along forest edges or in clearings, black grouse feed on the rich growth of bilberry, cowberry and other shrubs.

6. SHELTERED GROUND

In gullies and hollows, grouse feed on the seeds of grasses and herbs and strip the buds and berries of shrubs.