Black grouse bounce back across the North

The upsurge in the population of the bird, which has seen numbers of males rise from a low of fewer than 500 two years ago to around 1,000 this spring, has enabled the trust to movee 15 males to a new area in the Yorkshire Dales where the birds have disappeared.

Black grouse were once common in most of southern England, from Dartmoor to Norfolk, but are now found only in four upland areas in Northumberland, County Durham, Cumbria and North Yorkshire.

Numbers of the red-listed bird have declined from around 25,000 displaying males in 1970, as a result of habitat loss and increasingly intensive agriculture.

But this year’s spring count revealed the species had managed to fight back from two bad breeding seasons and a very harsh winter in 2009/2010.

Dr Phil Warren, research scientist with the GWCT, said: “There’s been 15 years of hard work into understanding what the birds want, habitat improvements of moor fringes, predator control, and planting of new native woodland to get them to survive hard winters. All this hard work means when we get the good weather conditions they do better.”

Research has revealed that male black grouse are unwilling to disperse more than 1km (0.6 miles) from where they are born, even if the habitat is suitable. But females are prepared to move up to 9km (six miles) and it is hoped females will follow the transplanted males to the new areas.