Red grouse counts

• In England red grouse had a successful breeding season.
• In Scotland, there was only a slight improvement on 2006.

Red grouse in northern England

As part of our monitoring programme, we counted red grouse at 25 sites in 2007. Strongylosis caused a population crash in 2005, but the last two years have seen strong recovery from just over 140 per 100 hectares in 2006 to just over 200 in 2007 (see Figure 1). With a predominantly young breeding stock with low parasite burdens, the heavy rain in June and July had little impact on chick survival, with hens rearing an average of 6.5 chicks over the 14 Pennine sites. Post-breeding parasite levels remained low on most moors (mean of 1,247 worms per adult grouse), hence the prospects for 2008 currently look excellent.

Figure 1. Average density of young and adult red grouse in July from 25 sites across northern England 1991-2007.

	Young grouse
	Adult grouse

Red grouse in Scotland

We counted grouse on 24 sites in Scotland. There was no difference in spring red grouse densities compared with 2006, with an average of 12.7 pairs per 100 hectares in 2007. Despite the wet summer, for many areas summer counts were marked by a slight improvement in breeding success in 2007 (average 3.2 chicks per hen) compared with 2006 (2.6 chicks per hen). Overall there was no significant change in the density of red grouse on Scottish moors (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. Average density of young and adult red grouse in July/August from 24 sites across Highland Scotland, 1986-2007

	Young grouse
	Adult grouse