The past few days have been spent driving around Scotland on an extensive grouse pilgrimage which took in ptarmigan on the Isle of Mull, grouse counting (red and black) in Perthshire, and then ptarmigan again in the Aberdeenshire Grampians and the Cairngorms. I walked almost forty miles on extreme terrain, took a huge amount of Continue reading

Over the past few weeks I’ve been seeing some pretty nice coveys of red grouse, not only on the Chayne but also in the surrounding area. On the morning of the CLA (when I was stalking a roe buck instead of sitting in a hot car for five hours to Ragley), I found some decent Continue reading

I’m grateful to Mike Groves who sent me this appalling picture of a greyhen sitting on an area of what seems to be clear-felled sitka spruce in Angus. The picture was taken a few weeks ago, right in the middle of the black grouse breeding season, and it makes the blood run cold to wonder Continue reading

During the last two days, my pet blackcock has suddenly lost a great deal of feathers on his face and down his neck. I’ve been expecting his moult to kick in for the past week, but observing it at close hand has meant that I can see just how quickly it happens. Over the next Continue reading

During a beautiful sunlit afternoon walking over Langholm Moor with the head keeper yesterday afternoon (of which more to come), life seemed pretty sweet. Lone grouse cocks poked their heads out of the dry, rustling grass and it was a fair bet to assume that if there were any early chicks going about, the living Continue reading

The chance discovery of a new and previously unheard of blackcock on the Chayne should represent a major event on this blog, where black grouse are few and far between. I can report that I am ninety percent certain that I spotted one yesterday afternoon, but until I can get around the back of the Continue reading

My pet blackcock has been standing in this position since ten o’clock this morning. The only slight variation on this theme have been his eyelids, which close periodically as part of a staggered pattern of blinks. An American might describe this activity as “catchin’ some rays”, but one thing is certain; that nothing looks smarter Continue reading

Given that this morning was the first still, quiet morning we’ve had for a while, I headed out onto the hill behind the house to look for a lek which I have been keeping an eye out for for a while. Although it looked promising from my bedroom window, by the time I had had Continue reading

Another early morning trip out into the hills behind the house failed to show fruit in terms of blackcock. I could hear one (or possibly a couple) murmuring away, but I just couldn’t get a clear idea of where they were. I think that they might be in a little hollow, in which case there Continue reading