adult male red grouse lagopus lagopus game bird gamebird
horizontal photo of an adult male red grouse lagopus lagopus game bird gamebird on heather moor land in north england with grit stone rock background Lancashire Great Britain UK Europe. The Red Grouse (Lagopus lagopus scoticus) is a medium sized bird of the grouse family which is found in heather moorland in Britain and Ireland. It is usually classified as a subspecies of the Willow Grouse but is sometimes considered to be a separate species Lagopus scoticus. The Red Grouse is differentiated from the Willow Grouse and Ptarmigan by its plumage being reddish brown and not having a white winter plumage. The tail is black and the legs are white. There are white stripes on the underwing and red combs over the eye. Females are less reddish than the males and have less conspicuous combs. Young birds are duller and lack the red combs. Birds in Ireland are sometimes thought to belong to a separate subspecies L. l. hibernicus. They are slightly paler than those in Britain and the females have yellower plumage with more finely barred underparts. This may be an adaptation to camouflage them in moorland with higher grass and sedge content and less heather. It is identified by its chut!chut!chut!chut!chut! call. The wings make a whirring sound when the bird is disturbed from a resting place. The Red Grouse is endemic to the British Isles; it has developed in isolation from other subspecies of the Willow Grouse which are widespread in northern parts of Eurasia and North America. It is found across most parts of Scotland and Wales. In England it is mainly found in the north with isolated populations on Exmoor and Dartmoor. In Ireland it is found locally in most parts of the country. Its typical habitat is upland heather moors away from trees. It can also be found in some low-lying bogs and birds may visit farmland during hard weather. The British population is estimated at about 250,000 pairs with around 1-5,000 pairs in Ireland. Numbers have declined in recent years and
Size: 5138px × 3421px
Photo credit: © Michael Sayles / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: adult, beat, bird, bog, bowland, clougha, decline, disease, dog, eat, explosive, fast, flight, fly, game, gravel, gritstone, grouse, gun, gundog, habitat, heath, hill, hound, hunt, hunting, lagopus, male, moorland, mountain, pike, ptarmigan, rapid, red, scotland, season, shoot, shooting, shot, shotgun, spaniel, sport, upland, whir, wing, wingbeat
