Rare birds shake their tail feathers in flamboyant mating dance on MOD firing range - Defence Infrastructure Organisation

The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) has created an ideal ‘dance floor’ for a mating display by the endangered black grouse.

Black grouse birds are taking to the firing range at Garelochhead Training Centre in Scotland, where the short grassland offers an ideal location for the males to get their groove on with a unique mating dance called the ‘lek’.

From dawn, the ‘rookoo’ sound of the iconic Scottish birds can be heard echoing through Garelochhead Training Centre and the surrounding uplands. With their distinctive red eyebrows and white under-tail feathers, the birds are a special sight for local birdwatchers and military personnel alike.

The males come onto the short grass areas at dawn and dusk to attract females watching from the longer grass nearby, as well as engaging in the occasional spirited scuffle with rivals.

The firing range, which sees personnel taking aim at targets from various distances, is a carefully-mown area of grass maintained by DIO’s industry partner Landmarc Support Services (Landmarc). It not only provides an ideal environment for live fire training, but has also proved an attractive habitat for black grouse.

Despite finding a haven at Garelochhead, the black grouse is one of the fastest declining birds in the UK, and is on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List of Threatened Species. Driven by climate change and differences in land management, the birds have been moving further north as their favourite upland heath-land habitats become scarcer. Their adoption of the Garelochhead range is a positive step for black grouse conservation in the region.