Bog Myrtle & Peat

Having heard that an experimental black grouse reintroduction project is currently taking place on Arran, I could hardly resist having a look at first hand. Heading over on the ferry yesterday morning, I didn’t really know what to expect. I have read from a number of sources that it is comparatively easy to rear and keep black grouse in captivity, but there is a serious problem when attempts are made to release the birds into the wild.

A volunteer for the project took me out to see the breeding programme in the grounds of Brodick Castle and explained the numerous difficulties surrounding black grouse reintroduction. It would seem that, as black grouse chicks grow up in the wild, parts of their intestines are forced to expand to make the most efficient digestive use of their  natural food sources. Rearing chicks in captivity does not put their intestines through the same processes and the necessary expansion does not necessarily take place. When  they are released into the wild, they gorge on natural food sources but cannot digest them and literally starve to death. It is a complex problem, but it is one that the Arran Black Grouse Group are determined to overcome.

Tiny speckled chicks trotted around their adopted bantam mother, pecking at bugs and scratching the turf with their enormous fluffy feet. Up in Glen Sheraig, the breeding stock was being held in a series of cages and sheds, and it was an odd experience to hear black grouse cackling inside a corrugated plastic shack. Despite attempts to domesticate them, the birds don’t respond to humans at all, and they fly into extreme panic whenever they are fed or watered. We had to stand well back to avoid disturbing them, but still they fluttered around and bashed into the gauze netting.

For some reason, the RSPB and the Forestry Comission have withdrawn all funding for the project, and it is widely alleged that, rather than merely failing to support the reintroduction of black grouse to Arran, they are taking active steps to prevent the project’s ongoing success. With biology and major conservation charities working against them, it seems as though Arran Black Grouse Group have a major mountain to scale, but they are so passionate and determined to succeed that, if anyone can do it, I’m sure it will be them.