Plea to ‘Lek it be’ to protect threatened capercaillie

The Cairngorms Capercaillie Project has announced the return of the Lek It Be campaign after hailing its success last year.

The initiative is aimed at safeguarding one of the UK's most vulnerable birds - the capercaillie.

Badenoch and Strathpsey is the last stronghold for the species with with only 532 capercaillie remaining in the UK.

The Lek It Be campaign, initially launched last spring, is dedicated to reducing disturbance to capercaillie and promoting compliance with the law.

Park bosses point out it is a wildlife crime to intentionally or recklessly disturb breeding capercaillie.

There are partners from the birding, photography and wildlife guiding community, local land managers and Police Scotland.

A Cairngorms National Park Authority spokesperson said: “Last year, the campaign achieved notable success, with a majority of birdwatchers and photographers choosing not to seek capercaillie.

“Most commercial operators offering guided wildlife experiences in the Cairngorms also voluntarily pledged to become Lek It Be Champions, committing to not look for capercaillie.

“Fewer birders, photographers and wildlife guides were encountered on dawn patrols and all bar a few responded positively to guidance.

Carolyn Robertson, project manager for the Cairngorms Capercaillie Project, said: “We are immensely grateful for the widespread support we received last spring from the birding, photography and wildlife guiding community.”

“This spring, we’re simply asking birdwatchers, photographers and wildlife guides to keep up the good work and continue to leave capercaillie in peace as we can all play a role in helping the birds to breed successfully.”

Josh Jones, head of content for BirdGuides, said: "The UK capercaillie population remains at a critically low level and we need to keep up our efforts as a birding community to respond to this situation.

“We should be proud of the good choices that most of us made last spring. To make the greatest long-term difference we all need to continue to leave capercaillie in peace this breeding season and avoid the temptation to go looking for them.”

As part of the campaign this year, new guidance about responsible access in capercaillie areas has been published to help birders, photographers and wildlife guide make even more informed decisions this spring.

Wildlife guides who are Lek It Be Champions will be leading by example and not looking for capercaillie.

Cairngorms rangers will be on hand from dawn to offer alternative capercaillie-friendly routes for anyone looking to see other forest species at first light, while police officers will patrol paths around lek sites from dawn, supported by CCTV surveillance.

Social media monitoring will also be in place to discourage the sharing of capercaillie images and sensitive locations online.

PC Dan Sutherland, wildlife crime officer for Highland and Islands Division in the Highlands, said: “We are fortunate to have rare and endangered species including capercaillie and we are committed to preventing wildlife crime and deterring criminals who seek to destroy our wild heritage.

“It is a criminal offence to disturb capercaillie whilst they are breeding, are on or near a nest containing eggs or young, or whilst they are with dependent young.

“To ensure compliance with the law we will be conducting dawn patrols around lek sites again this spring."

Brian Egan, General Manager at Rare Bird Alert said "With the UK's capercaillie population in such a perilous position we call on all birders to follow the guidance issued in the Lek It Be campaign.

“We very much hope that, in years to come, birders will have opportunities to see these magnificent birds lekking once more, but for now please be the best kind of ambassador for our hobby, and just Lek It Be."

For more information, visit lekitbe.scot or follow the campaign using #LekItBe

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