Gaudy, proud and so painfully vulnerable

A blackgrouse lek — the mesmerising display he puts on to attract a female — is something most people will never see, says Patrick Laurie

- Patrick Laurie

Spring is a time of extreme excitement in the hills. After months of silence, life begins again. Curlew return to pick up their territories and snipe emerge from the rushes to drum and squeal in the warming days. On well-managed moorland, life becomes a circus of sound and colour, but only one bird can claim the role of ringmaster.

Blackgrouse are some of the most beautiful and extraordinary birds in Britain. Gaudy, proud and painfully vulnerable to the pressures of the modern world, they seem like something from Arthurian legend. There was a time when blackgrouse could be found in every county from Cornwall to Caithness. The sound of them displaying in the springtime could be heard within short walking distance of Westminster and the sight of male birds with their tails fanned was so common that it often went without mention or comment.

It is generally thought that blackgrouse numbers peaked in the mid-18th century, at a time when they were common as poultry. Early naturalists and writers started to chart their decline in the regency period and the birds began to fade away until the early 20th century.

Astonishing numbers

Their range contracted across lowland habitats in the south and east of the country, but powerful strongholds remained in the uplands of England, Wales and Scotland. The record bag of 252 blackgrouse was shot on Staffordshire’s Cannock Chase in 1860; a signal moment amid a general tale of collapse. Even after a century of decline, it was still possible to find birds in astonishing numbers until the start of World War I.