RED GROUSE

MANY PEOPLE KNOW the Red Grouse as the ‘only British bird’. It is indeed true that the bird only occurs in the British Isles. However, it is widely agreed that it is a largely red-brown subspecies of the widespread Holarctic Willow Grouse (aka Willow Ptarmigan). ‘Our’ bird, in addition to being red-brown (including the wings and belly, which are white in the Willow Grouse), are distinguished by not turning white in winter. Incidentally, try not to confuse the Willow Ptarmigan (Grouse) with the Ptarmigan, which is often called the Rock Ptarmigan, eg in North America, where both seasonal plumage-changing species occur. So, the Red Grouse is not a species as such; and there are many birds which have distinct British and British Isles subspecies. Furthermore, taxonomists in their wisdom have determined that Scottish Crossbill is an endemic species; and is not only the only UK endemic bird species, but the only UK endemic vertebrate. The Red Grouse may not be the ‘only British bird’, but it is a distinctly British (and Irish) bird, and a pretty lovely one, too. Sadly, it is also the bird at the centre of one of the most raging wildlife debates in this country. It is argued that Red Grouse are ‘falsely’ nurtured and their habitat ‘controlled’ artificially in a destructive way that is detrimental to other local wildlife. Victims of this ‘control’ don’t just include mammalian predators but also Mountain Hares and, of course Hen Harriers. And all this arises because some people get their entertainment (and some large amounts of money) from driven Red Grouse shooting. But don’t blame the grouse. You can see Red Grouse on upland heather moorland mainly in Scotland and northern England, but also in Wales and south-west England, plus the whole of Ireland. Only the males are deep red-brown, with bright red ‘combs’ above the eye. Females are more cryptically coloured and patterned, with a much smaller comb. When excited, the male’s red comb swells up and becomes much more obvious. Males are usually more conspicuous and are seen above the heather ‘keeping guard’. They have a gruff, almost human toned voice, warning In English, of course, as befits a distinctly British bird…