Bog Myrtle & Peat

The blackcock which spent the past few months around the farm buildings vanished around a fortnight ago. His usual haunts were abandoned, and he started to appear in unusual new places. Last year, his lekking displays were confined to a single large field, and he continued to display there even into July. I ascribed his long survival last year to the fact that foxes, crows and stoats were in short supply in the immediate vicinity of the farm buildings, and although I have been working hard at pest control these past few months, I didn’t expect him to survive long on the vermin infested hill, away from the passive protection of humans.

Over the course of a few days, he appeared to be heading away, almost due west from the farm buildings. I disturbed him more than once while checking up on larsen traps, and each time, he flew further and further away from his “home”. The last time I saw him, he was more than a mile away from his usual lekking ground, displaying on a patch of open pasture above the big bog. I have my fingers crossed that he will survive away from my protection, but there is one explanation for his behaviour which gives rise to some hope.

I have seen no greyhens around that blackcock since July 2010, and finding the remains of a fox kill greyhen on New Year’s indicated that he might have some trouble breeding this year without his female. Sure enough, his sporadic and unpredictable lekking behaviour in March showed that he was not finding any greyhens to play with, and has been forced to travel to find a new female. The further he pushes away from the protection of the farm buildings, the more his life is at risk from foxes, but each day he heads away brings him a fraction closer to a small population of birds on the other side of the farm.

Over the next few days, I’m going to find out what he’s up to – Will he find a greyhen and stay with her to lek, or will he bring her back to his patch? Will he be killed by a fox, or will he join up with another blackcock to form a lek in a new area? I have no idea.

Fortunately, there are a number of scientists and researchers all looking into black grouse behaviour, but nobody ever really studies the birds in heavily depleted populations which are so scant as to have brought a logistical end to “normal” black grouse behaviour. In theory, my bird should belong to a large lek of like-minded males, which would attract females in to breed. As it is, my bird seems to have taken matters into his own hands and has set off into the wilderness alone to find a mate for himself.

I wish him the best of luck!