A pair of Black Grouse at a traditional Lek sit in the Scottish Highlands. SCO 6184
This species is declining in western Europe due to loss of habitat, disturbance, predation by foxes, crows, etc., and small populations gradually dying out. They have declined in the UK (especially England), having disappeared from many of their former haunts. They are now extinct in Lancashire, Derbyshire, Exmoor, East Yorkshire, New Forest, Nottinghamshire, Worcestershire, Quantock Hills, Cornwall, Dartmoor, Kent, Wiltshire and Surrey. A program to re-introduce Black Grouse into the wild started in 2003 in the Upper Derwent Valley area of the Peak District in England. 30 grouse were released in October 2003, followed by 10 male grouse in December 2004 and a further 10 male and 10 female in April 2005. The programme is being run jointly by the National Trust, Severn Trent Water and Peak District National Park. Conservation groups helping to revive the Black Grouse include the RSPB and the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust. Meanwhile, the tails of black-cocks have, since late Victorian times, been popular adornments for hats worn with Highland Dress. Most commonly associated with Glengarry and Balmoral or Tam O'Shanter caps, they still continue to be worn by pipers of civilian and military pipe-bands. Since 1904, all ranks of the Royal Scots and King's Own Scottish Borderers have worn them in their full-dress headgear and that tradition is carried on in the dress glengarries of the current Scottish-super regiment, The Royal Regiment of Scotland.
Size: 5706px × 3677px
Location: Invercauld Moor, Aberdeenshire, Grampian Region, Scotland.
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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