Red Grouse
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| Lagopus lagopus scoticus (Latham, 1787) |
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.
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[edit] Description
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!chuttt.... call, or the 'Goback, goback, goback" vocalisation. The wings make a whirring sound when the bird is disturbed from a resting place.
Grouse populations display periodic cycling, where the population builds up to very high densities only to crash a few years later, and then recover. The main driver of this cyclic pattern is thought to be the parasitic nematode worm Trichostrongylus tenuis.
[edit] Distribution and habitat
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, including Orkney, Shetland and most of the Outer Hebrides. They are only absent from urban areas, such as the central belt, the flatter areas of the north-east and around Fife.
In Wales there are strong populations in places but their range has retracted. They are now largley absent from the far south, their main strongholds being Snowdonia, the Brecon Beacons and the Cambrian Mountains. There are reports of welsh birds crossing the Bristol Channel to Exmoor.
In England it is mainly found in the north - places such as the Lake District, Northumberland], County Durham, much of Yorkshire, the Pennines and the Peak District, as far south as the Staffordshire Moorlands. There is an isolated introduced population on Dartmoor, and overspill welsh birds visit the Shropshire Hills such as Long Mynd, where they breed. The Exmoor population would now appear to be extinct, with the last birds sighted as recently as 2005.
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 birds are now absent in areas where they were once common. Reasons for the decline include loss of heather due to overgrazing and the creation of new conifer plantations. Some predators such as the Hen Harrier feed on grouse and there is ongoing controversy as to what effect these have on grouse numbers.
Red Grouse have been introduced to the Hautes Fagnes region of Belgium but the population there died out in the early 1970s.
[edit] Reproduction and diet
The birds begin to form pairs during the autumn and males become increasingly territorial as winter progresses. The nest is a shallow scrape up to 20cm across which is lined with vegetation. About six to nine eggs are laid, mainly during April and May. They are oval, glossy and pale yellow with dark brown blotches. The eggs are incubated for 19 to 25 days, the chicks can fly after 12 to 13 days after hatching and are fully grown after 30 to 35 days.
The Red Grouse is herbivorous and feeds mainly on the shoots, seeds and flowers of heather. It will also feed on berries, cereal crops and sometimes insects.
[edit] The Red Grouse and man
The Red Grouse is considered a game bird and is shot in large numbers during the shooting season which traditionally starts on the 12th of August, known as the Glorious Twelfth. Shooting can take the form of 'walked up' (where hunters walk across the moor to flush grouse and take a shot) or 'driven' (where grouse are driven, often in large numbers by 'beaters' towards the guns who are hiding behind a line of 'butts'). Many moors are intensively managed to increase the density of grouse. Areas of heather are subjected to controlled burning, this allows fresh young shoots to regenerate which are favoured by the grouse. Extensive predator control is a feature of grouse moor management, foxes, stoats and crows are usually heavily controlled on grouse moors. In recent decades the practice of using of medicated grit and direct dosing of birds against parasitic worms has become established on some moors.
It is the logo of The Famous Grouse whisky and an animated bird is a character in a series of its adverts. The Red Grouse is also the emblem of the journal British Birds.
[edit] References
- Eric Dempsey & Michael O'Clery (1995) Pocket Guide to the Common Birds of Ireland, Gill & Macmillan, Dublin.
- D. W. Snow & C. M. Perrins (1998) Birds of the Western Palearctic: Concise Edition, Vol. 1, Oxford University Press, Oxford.
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