A Capercaillie for Christmas?
The “Lady o’ Bennachie” by Tony Hilton. This bird often frequented the visitor centre and was eventually relocated.
The capercaillie is the largest grouse in the world yet hardly seen in Scotland once again. In Gaelic, capall-coille, the ‘Horse of the Woods’, describes their size in relation to other forest birds. They became extinct in Scotland but were successfully reintroduced in 1837 from Scandinavia. From there they spread across Scotland quite well but after two world wars, deforestation and persecution from hunting and forestry management, these iconic birds are almost sadly gone again.
Game hunting for these birds was very sought after alongside other grouse shooting. The record shoot of these birds on one day was 69, bagged near Dunkeld in 1910. A voluntary ban on shooting began in the early 1990s but the decline still continued, predation, collision with forestry fences and disturbance being the main causes of decline since then. The bird is now a protected species under the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981. Despite over 20,000 counted in the 1970s, we may have less 1000 birds in Scotland and possibly around 20-50 in Deeside.
The size of a turkey, the capercaillie was probably once shot for a table eating bird, but I doubt for Christmas! In Colin Gibson’s excellent book, Highland Deer Stalker, the retired head stalker John Robbie had a good way of preparing the male “capercailzie” for the table. According to him the best way was to bury them in the ground for a fortnight, then after that… “Well, after that he said it was best to forget whaur you’d buried them!”
So, what can we do? Last week we participated in two events. The first an informative workshop discussing how business in the Cairngorm National Park can help promote responsible access, with a focus on capercaillie. The second was a whole day of conservation work on the Balmoral Estate.
A capercaillie photographed by a Duke of Edinburgh’s Award group
On access we can all play out part. Find out where the capercaillie might be in your area and follow the advice given from the local experts. A male capercaillie can be very aggressive, especially during lek time, and if disturbed by us they can attack, wasting energy they need for mating. Dogs unfortunately often disturb these birds, even unintentionally, consider an alternative area for your walks if you can’t keep your dog on a lead.
The Cairngorm National Park, capercaillie project.
One takeaway for me from the workshop was the need to try and educate ourselves on the plight of all our fragile species in Scotland, and then to pass on out knowledge to our clients. This is something we do already but perhaps a blog might help…. Our conservation day with Glyn and Fiona was the second time I’ve done a day of this type of hard graft, removing spruce from an area of bog woodland. We spent the day taking out small self-seeded spruce, piling them up and also ring barking the larger spruce trees which will eventually become dead-standing wood and let more light into the area. Capercaillie need a mix of woodland habitat to thrive, so hopefully this work will bear fruit (the chicks like eating blaeberry) in the future.
A Balmoral Estate capercaillie caught on a camera trap.
Bog woodland restoration in Balmoral Estate.
So this Christmas, when you go out to walk off the excess, have a think about the plight of the old capercaillie and try not to disturb them!
Please follow the links below to find out more
The Cairngorms Capercaillie Project
If you would like to read more about capercaillie we have a limited supply of a wonderful book, Grouse by Adam Watson and Robert Moss, signed first additions. All profits to North East Mountain Trust.