In with the old –and the new
THE battle to save the capercaillie is combining some of the oldest land-management tools with some of the newest. Conservationists at RSPB Loch Garten, in Abernethy, Scotland, are using grazing cattle and remotecontrolled mini tractors to improve habitat for the beleaguered bird, the Scottish population of which may have dropped below 1,000, according to the Cairngorms National Park Authority.
The cattle, says assistant warden Mike Butler, ‘all have Highland blood, except an Aberdeen Angus’. The tractors are accompanied by an operator who knows exactly where the machine will go and can control it to avoid sensitive areas such as ant nests. Both mimic the disturbance wild animals would have caused in the forest centuries ago: they reduce heather cover (cattle by crushing it, tractors by pulverising it), creating open spaces in which chicks can move around more easily and capercaillie-friendly plants, such as blaeberry and cowberry, can grow. Thus far, both approaches seem to be yielding positive results. ‘What we think we need to do is create a bit of artificial mess,’ says Uwe Stoneman, senior site manager. ‘Nature likes a mess. The more messy it is, the more interesting it is.’