Cairngorms board to discuss plight of 'red list' capercaillie
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New Scottish capercaillie lek data suggests that the capercaillie population is in decline and more needs to be done to build a future for the species.
Papers are set to go before the board of the Cairngorms National Park Authority next week.
Factors affecting capercaillie include lack of habitat, low productivity, predation, collisions with unmarked fences, disturbance, climate change and possibly low genetic diversity in the remaining population.
Many of these issues are faced by the species across Europe, where similar declines are being witnessed.
At the CNPA Board meeting next Friday, capercaillie feature in the organisation’s Strategic Risk Management and Monitoring Corporate Performance report as well as the Cairngorms Nature Action Plan 2019-2022 mid-term update.
Both reports detail progress across a range of activities and projects in the Park.
Grant Moir, chief executive at the CNPA explained: “Capercaillie are a key species that indicate the health and connectedness of our native pine woodlands. They are also a good indicator of whether we have the right balance that allows people and nature to thrive together.
“Expert opinion in the 1990s was that the population trajectory for caper in Scotland would lead to extinction of the bird by around 2010. That did not happen and this shows that the work of various caper projects over those two decades had a real impact.
"However, declines in the last six years indicate that this bird remains at risk.
“While significant headway is being made in many areas of the park authority’s work and that of the Cairngorms Nature Partnership, conservation efforts for capercaillie are yet to come to fruition.
“However, I have met this week with our key partners to look at next steps and how the work on capercaillie ties in with wider biodiversity strategy work in Scotland. We will work together to develop a collective approach on a number of key issues relating to capercaillie and dovetail this with the ongoing work of the Cairngorms Capercaillie Project, which started its delivery phase in July 2020 to deliver a range of activities and actions.
“Nevertheless, the seriousness of the situation has resulted in capercaillie being moved from ‘amber’ to ‘red’ in the Cairngorms Nature Action Plan.”
The full national capercaillie survey results are due in 2022 but work is currently underway to try to establish a more accurate picture of the capercaillie population in Scotland, including an analysis of lek and brood counts, a genetic assessment of the population, plus further population survey work due to be carried out this coming winter.
Dr Pete Mayhew, director of nature and climate change at the CNPA, commented: “A coordinated approach to tackling many of the issues facing the capercaillie is already underway through the Cairngorms Capercaillie Project. The project is building a good momentum, from innovative genetics and social science research to land management action and habitat improvements.
"Significant work is also taking place that involves geographical communities and communities of interest such as mountain bikers. It is, however, far too early for these efforts to have a demonstrable effect on the population as a whole.
“It’s also important to stress that the project was never designed to cover all of the issues affecting capercaillie breeding success and survival. We need to consider further, targeted action in collaboration with our many project partners.”
The Cairngorms Capercaillie Project was awarded £2million from the National Lottery Heritage Fund in July 2020 to deliver the activities and actions proposed during the Project’s development phase.
The project is fostering a community led approach with local conservation action plans, habitat improvements, reducing disturbance on the ground, enhanced predator control in key areas and investigative work around genetic diversity. All of this work will help inform action going forward.
Scottish Gamekeepers Association chairman Alex Hogg MBE, said: “Present approaches are killing the capercaillie, short-changing the tax payer and rewarding failure.
“Millions of pounds of public money have been spent on missed targets. The public need to know in which forests birds are surviving and in which they are not. They also need to know why.
“Several years ago, groups like RSPB, in the remaining core forests, decided to stop controlling the things which eat the capercaillie and move towards rewilding. The fact that capercaillie are now declining rapidly should be no surprise.
“In island pockets, where gamekeepers work, the capercaillie have been holding a line until recently but they are declining there, too, because proper predation control is not being carried out in the other connected woodlands.
“If conservation groups find stepping up to the plate too unpalatable, they should make way for others that can get the job done or the capercaillie is finished.”
