As part of the research for an article I’m working on about ptarmigan, I have been forced to enter a murky world; a world of rustly jackets, fabric conditioner and trekking poles. I have had to become a hill walker. Having shot ptarmigan a few years ago and been fascinated by them, I’m quite sure Continue reading

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted about black grouse on the Chayne, and there is quite a simple reason why – I haven’t seen much worth talking about. There have been a few greyhens going about, but with the exception of the small brood of four which I saw in August, things are Continue reading

Over the past month, my blackcock has grown some cracking new tail feathers. He’s quite shy about showing them off, and has only really lekked at night for the past few weeks. You could argue that because he’s blind, he doesn’t know it’s night time, but I’ve heard wild birds lekking at any time of Continue reading

The blind blackcock is coming out of his moult more everyday. It’s interesting that he’s got some really prominent white feathers on his neck, and there is almost an entire collar underneath his chin. This seems to be a characteristic of birds coming out of the moult, and I’ve seen them as late as November. Continue reading

Just wanted to include this brilliant screenprint of a blackcock on the Chayne by Colin Blanchard, formerly of Newtonrigg College, now a man of leisure based over in the distant reaches of Dumfriesshire. Colin has been up to the Chayne a few times over the past couple of years, although the fact that I’ve never Continue reading

Overnight, the wildfowling season and the partridge season kicked in. I threw a ceremonial scoop of bruised barley onto the flight pond to commemorate the coming of the wildfowling season, even though it will be another three months before I can start shooting the pintail, wigeon and teal that give living within sight of the Continue reading

Ever since getting hold of a domesticated blackcock, I’ve been on an extremely steep learning curve. I’ve had an amazing opportunity to get to know him at close range, and I’ve picked up things that I might never have learned in a lifetime spent working with wild birds. On his first night, I tried to Continue reading

Today marks a major milestone in the Working for Grouse story – not only is it my 27th birthday, but I have come into possession of a new bird. As of last night, I am now the extremely proud owner of a hand-reared blackcock. A friend in Cheshire breeds black grouse, and I have been Continue reading

It looks like it’ll be a mixed year for grouse across the country after such a shocking Spring and Summer. I was due to cover some high profile days in Yorkshire as part of my journalism work, but all have since been cancelled thanks to counts which seemed to indicate that there were few young Continue reading

Some very odd things are happening. This is a black grouse blog and my book is only a small part of the story, so I don’t want to dwell on the subject of the book too much. However, the publicity involved in the book’s publication has raised some interesting questions which are relevant not only Continue reading