Action Plan: Black Grouse

Male black grouse or ‘blackcocks’ have glossy blue-black plumage with bright red patches over each eye called wattles and striking white stripes on each wing which can be seen when they are in flight. They have curved black tail feathers which they fan when displaying to reveal white under tail feathers. 

The females or ‘greyhens’ have mottled brown feathers to camouflage them in heather and grass when nesting or feeding on the ground. They have a short, slightly forked tail and their white wing bars are narrower than on males. The female is slightly smaller than the male.

The Black Grouse is one of the most threatened bird species in the UK. Measures to arrest the decline of black grouse in England are being coordinated by the North Pennines Black Grouse Recovery Project. The project covers the three main areas that contain black grouse in England which are the North Pennines AONB, the Yorkshire Dales and north-west Northumberland.

The county of Northumberland is included in two of these areas; the North Pennines AONB and north-west Northumberland.  The population status in the North Pennines AONB is improving but the species is still declining in the north-west Northumberland area. Specific conservation measures will be required in order to arrest this decline.