Black grouse country..... a mini expedition

Black grouse country

Black grouse are widespread in Europe from the Alpes Maritime to N. Russia. Here in Scotland they are reasonably common throughout the highlands on the edges of woodland where the trees meet the moorland. In Spring they have a spectacular mating ritual, the "lek".

Hamza in his hide , 4.00 am at - 5 C.

Before dawn the male birds fly in to lekking sites where they strut around and have mock flights to try to impress females (grey hens) , they watch from the sidelines. Like human females the grey hens like a man who can dance!

Because they are widely dispersed in the landscape they need to meet up like this to select mates and to mate, think of it as "speed dating" out doors.

The birds are very loyal to their lek sites and the one we visited last week for Hamza to get some video images I have known for the last 15 years, every year they come back to the same close cropped upland lawn on the forest edge in the early morning.

Black grouse,the only one we saw

This year both we and the birds were too early for filming, they arrived in the dark and departed in the dark. It was too early in the season.

Next month when it's light at 5.00 am Hamza should be more successful and in case you are wondering he does have a licence to film schedule 1 protected species.