Red grouse

There are red grouse on heather moors in Yorkshire. They are mainly ground-dwelling birds with smart plumage, but a faintly ridiculous clucking call.

Red grouse: classification

Red grouse are lagopus lagopus scoticus, a local race of willow grouse (lagopus lagopus).

Red grouse: distribution

Red grouse live on heather moors in the north and west of England, in Scotland, and in Ireland.

Red grouse: description & behaviour

Red grouse are 33-38cm long (Collins Bird Guide). Their plumage is brown with a reddish tinge, and they have feathered feet. They are mainly vegetarian, feeding on shoots, seeds, and flowers of heather, but they will eat insects in summer.

They fly low, at speeds up to 70mph.

Male and female red grouse

A male red grouse (photo at the top of the page) has slightly darker plumage than a female, and a red eyebrow. The female (photo above) is lighter, with more ochre or gold in the feathers; she lacks the red eyebrow.

Red grouse: predators and threats

Red grouse have a number of predators: on the ground, foxes, stoats, and weasels, and from the air, birds of prey such as hen harriers.

They are treated almost like farm animals by the grouse shooting estates that rely on them for income. These estates burn heather, to encourage new shoots, they drain the peat bogs, feed medicated grit to grouse, and trap and shoot predators (in some cases, illegally). All of these practices have negative impacts on the land and on other wildlife.

Red grouse: life cycle

The birds form pairs in the autumn, and males become territorial in winter (Wikipedia). The nest is a shallow scrape lined with vegetation. Females lay 6 to 9 eggs in April and May. They are incubated for 19 to 25 days. About two weeks after hatching, the chicks can fly, and it only takes them 30-35 days to become fully grown.

Red grouse can live for up to 10 years, but in practice they rarely survive for more than a year in the wild.