Red Grouse, Lagopus lagopus Braemar Cairngorm National Park Scotland uk
Grouse. THE RED GROUSE (Lagopus lagopus) The red grouse is a bird of heather moorland with a range restricted to areas of blanket bog and upland shrub heath. It is a subspecies of the willow ptarmigan whose range extends across the northern latitudes. The red grouse differs by not developing white plumage during the winter and in having a diet almost exclusively of heather. Since the middle of the 1800s, grouse shooting has become one of the major land-uses of upland ground and the most important source of income for many estates. Small numbers of grouse can be shot sustainably from unmanaged moorland. Producing large harvestable surpluses of grouse is associated with a number of management practices; the management of heather habitat by controlled burning (muirburn), light grazing, predator and disease control. Grouse are not reared and released for shooting. Current estimates suggest a British breeding red grouse stock of 250,000 pairs. Breeding densities can reach over 50 pairs per kilometre square in spring. In general, grouse numbers have remained stable on many Northern English moors. Numbers have declined seriously in Scotland and grouse are now only present in very low numbers in Wales.
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Location: Braemar, Cairngorm National Park, Scotland uk
Photo credit: © MediaWorldImages / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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