Black grouse: How endangered black grouse is being protected in the North York Moors

Twenty black grouse have, under a licence from Natural England, successfully been translocated from their stronghold in the North Pennines to the North York Moors by researchers from the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) to help expand their range.

Ten hens and ten cocks were caught at night during November and early December, and immediately transported to the release site two hours’ drive away.

This site, the precise location of which has not been disclosed, had been specially selected for the birds as it provides the required mix of habitats for them.

The team used thermal binoculars, lamps and hand-held nets to capture the birds and 15 of them were fitted with radio transmitters to allow us to follow their settlement patterns, survival and lekking behaviour.

Dr Phil Warren, from GWCT and leading the project, said: “Initial visits to the North York Moors show birds have settled in the vicinity of the release area.

"This is a really positive sign, and we will continue to monitor movements and survival over the winter months and through the breeding season to assess how they settle, survive and breed.

"The data will also help us decide if we will make any further releases, and if those will be done in the same area, or whether we try to find a second recipient site to help establish a network of inter-connected lekking groups."

Black grouse are a Red List species of high conservation concern.

In England, they are now largely restricted to the North Pennines, which includes parts of County Durham, Northumberland, Cumbria and North Yorkshire.

Here, numbers remain broadly stable, fluctuating between 1,000 and 2,000 displaying males over the last 25 years.

The North York Moors was selected following landscape-scale habitat improvements on the fringes of moorland managed for grouse shooting. Work carried out included removing conifer woodland and restoring the ground to bog, heath and scrub woodland.

Moorland grasslands have also been managed more extensively to control bracken control and restore bilberry and heather. Occasional females have been spotted there in recent years, but no breeding has been recorded.

However, it is hoped the climate in the designated landscape will also help the birds re-establish populations there.

Natural re-colonisation of black grouse to the designated landscape 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.

Dr Warren said: “This translocation could not have been done without the invaluable help from the landowners and keepers at the donor sites, who have provided excellent support.

"Thanks to their efforts, and the help from the owners and keepers of the recipient sites, we hope to see black grouse established in the North York Moors.”

Led by GWCT researchers and funded by £164,000 from Natural England, the.project is also studying brood rearing and foraging habitats currently used by black grouse hens.

This has involved fitting seven hens with GPS tags under British Trust for Ornithology licence, then remotely tracking them to determine their daily foraging ranges.

The tracking data allowed GWCT to identify nest sites, start of incubation, hatch date, brood foraging and roosting locations, and calculate the brood home range.

The trust found of the five females that nested, only three hatched chicks.

Dr Warren said: “Last summer was a poor breeding year for black grouse. The three females that hatched young ended up losing their broods, two within the first week, and the third after 27 days.

"We hypothesise chick losses were linked to low numbers of insects during the chicks’ first two to three weeks.”

The work to tag and track more hens will continue next spring, supported by money raised through the GWCT’s Black Grouse Appeal, which raised £27,000 before Christmas.

As part of the brood foraging study, the team are also studying how livestock grazing influences the composition and abundance of invertebrates, especially sawfly larvae, which black grouse chicks like to feed on.

It is hoped it will boost understanding of how invertebrates can help off-set negative impacts of June rain to chicks and improve the low levels of chick survival.

The findings of the project will also help guide landscape-scale management of moorland fringe grasslands to benefit black grouse and to increase its range to help mitigate against likely future impacts of climate change.