Black grouse back on moors after almost 200 years

A project to reintroduce black grouse to the North York Moors after nearly 200 years has begun.
Conservationists say the birds are largely restricted to the North Pennines, between the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland, and have been carrying out work to create a more suitable environment on moorland in North Yorkshire.
The project, led by the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), aims to expand the birds’ range and recolonise areas where they once bred.
The GWCT said while there had been “sporadic sightings” of black grouse in the North York Moors, there had been no record of them breeding there since the 1840s.
Project officer, Dr Phil Warren, said: “Natural recolonisation of black grouse to the North York Moors from the existing populations in the North Pennines is currently limited by the 30km gap across unsuitable lowland farmland habitats in the Vale of Mowbray, which is on the limit of the dispersal range of black grouse.
“In recent years, occasional females have been seen, but no breeding recorded.
“We wish to help them re-establish here by moving birds to take advantage of habitat improvements and a likely more favourable climate, which is typically drier and warmer in June when chicks hatch.”
Black grouse are red-listed as a species of high conservation concern.
The project will involve capturing the birds at night and relocating them immediately to a specially selected site on the North York Moors, with some fitted with radio transmitters to help track their movements.
The project is being led by researchers from the GWCT Uplands team and has been funded with £164,000 from Natural England’s Species Recovery Programme Capital Grant Scheme.
Former Chairman of the National Gamekeepers Organisation, Lindsay Waddell, said: “The protocol for the translocation of black grouse is now well established and has proven successful by the reintroduction of the birds to a number of sites where they have been absent for many years, indeed decades in some cases.
“It is important that the environment is correct before the birds are moved, and that includes legal predator control, which makes the edges of moorland managed for grouse shooting ideal. This work to increase the range of the bird in England is all the more important as the bird is under serious pressure north of the border due to loss of habitat to afforestation and predation.”