Male black grouse numbers have almost halved since last spring in a "huge blow" to the upland birds, which were recovering before two wet summers and the latest cold winter reversed their rising fortunes.Black grouse had increased from 773 males in 1998 to a peak of 1,200 in 2007, but cold and rainy summers in 2007 and 2008 led to poor breeding seasons, with just 730 males recorded in spring 2009.Scientists from the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust were hopeful that a spell of good weather last spring had allowed the bird to bounce back with a more successful breeding season.But the "appalling conditions" this winter, with long periods of freezing conditions and deep snow, have badly damaged the birds in their North Pennines stronghold.
According to the latest monitoring of their traditional "lekking" sites where they perform their courtship rituals, numbers of males have almost halved to 400 this spring, conservationists said.
And the isolated black grouse population in north west Northumberland, which was already on the edge of extinction, now has just 15 males and will vanish unless major steps are taken immediately to help the bird, the Trust warned.
Dr Phil Warren, research scientist for the GWCT, said: "We have been running the North Pennines Black Grouse Recovery Project for the past 15 years and we had stemmed the decline and increased numbers to a peak of 1,200 in 2007.
"However the past two wet summers have badly affected the breeding success, and this has been compounded by appalling conditions this winter."
The red-listed bird has witnessed "staggering declines" over the past 150 years as a result of a series of threats including habitat loss and increasingly intensive agriculture.
Where once it was found in every county in Britain, there are now just a few thousand breeding males in northern England, Wales and Scotland.But conservation efforts under the 15-year recovery project in the North Pennines, funding for which has now ended, had enabled the black grouse to exceed targets of reaching 1,000 males by 2010 ahead of schedule - before numbers plummeted again.
Dr Warren said: "Although this is a huge blow to all those that have been involved in black grouse recovery, it does underline the importance of conserving populations at levels which can withstand these periodic random factors such as weather.
"Our work to improve the conditions on the fringes of moors has proved very important as the population in the Pennines has recovered sufficiently to withstand these extreme weather conditions." Conservationists have been encouraging moorland managers to establish small areas of native woodland on the edge of moors to provide food when other sources such as heather are covered by snow.
According to the GWCT these habitats have proved crucial, with the numbers of males declining by just 15 per cent at leks where woodland was available but halving at sites where there was none.
The Telegraph: 27-4-10
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