It was 2.55 am when my alarm went off. It was a late April Saturday morning and I was on a mission with fellow bird enthusiasts to witness a Lek. We needed to be in upper Teesdale in the North Pennines by 5 am to meet our guides from the Game Conservancy Trust. Arriving late was not an option or we would miss the spectacle we had dragged ourselves from our beds so early to see.
Now a word of explanation about a Lek: The name derives from an old Norse word leikr. Lek is the Swedish word for “play” or “mate”, in the sense of an aggregation of male animals gathered to engage in competitive displays i.e. lekking. These displays are to entice females with which to mate.
As a bird watcher this is what we got up so early to witness. In our case male Black Grouse, but some other birds lek too, including snipe. Black Grouse also known as Blackcock, are large black and white game birds with bright red crests on their heads; they undertake their competitive displays by exposing their large white tail feathers like a fan. They also leap up into the air to identify their territory and to ward off other males. From time to time female Black Grouse fly in to have look over the most suitable cock bird and choose a mate. It’s a bit like going to a dance in olden days to meet a partner.
Black grouse numbers have greatly reduced over recent years and are one of the fastest declining birds in the UK being on the red list of endangered species. They are birds of edge habitats, thriving particularly in those in between areas of northern woodlands and moorland heath. This specific habitat provides them with essential resources. They can find shelter in the forest during harsh winter weather. In the springtime, they feed on tree buds. During the summer, they nest on open ground and forage with their chicks among the grasses and heathland shrubs. The North Pennines and Cumbria are key areas where they successfully breed. The work of the Game Conservancy Trust, our hosts, monitors their numbers and works with landowners on habit restoration to aid their recovery.
Our small group were escorted in cars to the side of a hill with a broad, sweeping valley where we could watch the birds at some distance from the car windows. Getting out of vehicles was forbidden so as not to disturb the courtship rituals and good binoculars were essential. Fortunately, an early morning mist over the hills and valley slowly drifted away allowing us clear views. The male birds, exhibit spectacular communal breeding habits. From around dawn in mid April through to the end of May they gather on their Leks where the males stake out small patches of ground to entice females for mating.
Older Males Take Centre Stage
The Grey Hen birds do not enjoy the fabulous plumage of their male counterparts and are coloured a mottle brown. They lay their eggs in thick ground vegetation within a kilometre or so of the Lek. After the chicks hatch, the females take their broods to feed among the tall grasses, rushes, and heathland shrubs, where the chicks initially feed on insects before transitioning to buds, flowers, and seeds. Most black grouse chicks hatch in mid-June and remain as a family group until September. Young males tend to stay close to the home Lek, whereas females often disperse several miles to other areas of suitable habitat with other black grouse populations.
Black Grouse Diet
On our visit we saw at least 28 males, the maturer birds holding centre stage while the young pretenders lurk around on the outer fringes of the Lek area. The Lek site we visited covered about 4- 5 acres of rough land and from time to time female birds, known as Grey Hens, flew in to eye up any suitable partners. We saw bout a dozen females over a period of approximately an hour and a half, many came in for a while then flew off again. The call of the males was a constant loud and curious bubbling sound only interrupted by an occasional hissing noise – whether this was a male warding off another I don’t know. By nine o’clock the display was over but Lekking carries on every morning during the mating season so the males must be exhausted by all their showing off by then.
Black Grouse enjoy a varied diet that includes heather and bilberry. They also consume buds, leaves, flowers, seeds, stems, and even the spore capsules of mosses, adapting their food choices to the seasons. In spring, Black Grouse favour cotton grass flower buds and larch buds. They also eat herbs like buttercup, sorrel, and marigold found in unimproved pastures and hay meadows. In autumn, they consume berries of bilberry, cowberry, crowberry, and rowan, along with seeds of grasses and heath rush. After snowfall, the birds move into woods, feeding on the buds and catkins of birch and hazel, and any remaining berries.
Reversing Decline
To reverse the steep decline and promote the recovery of Black Grouse populations, several conservation measures are being implemented, focusing on habitat restoration and predator control to lower mortality rates. The North Pennines Black Grouse Recovery Project, where I was provides a compelling example of the effectiveness of targeted conservation efforts. By restoring moorland fringe habitats through reductions in sheep grazing, their breeding success has significantly improved, resulting in a 5% annual increase in displaying males. Also the successful translocation of male and female birds has also been undertaken to introduce birds to the North York Moors where they have now started to breed in small numbers.
Privilege
Despite the ungodly hour of our departure it was a privilege to see a Lek in action and our small party were enthralled to study at first hand the beauty of the birds and witness their unique behaviour. It was also great to see how active conservation measures can help restore endangered species and see the dedication shown by the Trust’s personnel in pursuing their important aims.
It just proves some things are worth getting out of bed for.
ENDS