A survey of displaying black grouse (Tetrao tetrix) numbers in Wales has recorded record breaking results. Last year’s annual survey of displaying black grouse in Wales, recorded the largest number of male birds since the survey began in 1997. Overall, 328 displaying males* were recorded during 2011, compared to 238 in 2010 across the same sites.
This means that the Welsh Black Grouse Recovery Project – set up in 1999 to halt the decline of these birds – has surpassed the 2015 Biodiversity Action Plan target of 270 lekking males – four years earlier than expected.
During the 90’s, the black grouse population in Wales was declining towards extinction, with numbers of lekking males reaching a low of 126 in 1997. The long-term decline of these birds, seen across Europe, was mainly due to wide-scale habitat and land-use changes.
Black Grouse (Tetrao tetrix)
Read full article, which was written and published by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), a registered charity: England and Wales no. 207076, Scotland no. SC037654
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