Black Grouse
Surfbirds News: RSPB Archives
June 12, 2007
Forest fire no barrier to the birds
Conservationists at RSPB's Corrimony reserve in the Central Highlands were appalled when a major fire wreaked havoc at the newly acquired site in June 1997, wiping out huge swathes of woodland and scorching the earth on over a tenth of the land.
Black Grouse, copyright Tom Marshall
But 10 years on, the reserve has just had its best ever black grouse survey - 57 lekking males - testament to the terrific habitat management that's been carried out since.
The 1,530 hectare reserve had just been purchased in April 1997 as a threatened upland habitat in need of sensitive management to aid recovery of black grouse, as well as iconic Scottish species including golden eagle and Scottish Crossbill. But disaster struck just weeks later when as forest fire spread from neighbouring land into trees on Corrimony.
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