2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference
March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH
9/25/2018 | 2:55 PM - 3:10 PM | Disentangling the Roles of Heather Management and Predator Control in Restoring Black Grouse Lyrurus Tetrix Numbers in North Wales, UK | Eccles Conference Center Auditorium
Disentangling the Roles of Heather Management and Predator Control in Restoring Black Grouse Lyrurus Tetrix Numbers in North Wales, UK
During the latter 20th century, red grouse Lagopus lagopus scotica and black grouse Lyrurus tetrix underwent precipitous declines in Wales (UK) and are now of high conservation concern. Red grouse, once a commonly harvested gamebird, are now restricted to low densities across largely unmanaged moors, where other ground-nesting birds, including black grouse, are now infrequent.
An EU-funded programme to restore black grouse in North Wales started in 1997. This was associated with a modest increase in numbers, but attributable to one site (Ruabon), where displaying males increased from 27 in 1997 to 323 in 2015, representing 80% of the Welsh population. This masked the continued national decline. Management of tall heather by cutting narrow strips was conducted at most sites, being most extensive at Ruabon, where 1-2 full-time gamekeepers controlled generalist predators.
We consider the relative importance of heather habitat cutting and predator control in restoring black grouse numbers across 11 Welsh moors. Neither grouse numbers nor their changes were related to rates of heather cutting. Instead, changes in abundance were positively related to gamekeeper presence and lower predator indices.
At Ruabon, displaying black grouse were initially more numerous where heather cutting was greater, reflecting targetting of management around larger leks, but subsequent changes were unrelated to cutting. Numbers of males and females away from leks showed no relationship with heather cutting. We conclude that any benefits of heather cutting are only realised if predators are first controlled, but even then may be more important for lekking than for breeding.
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Presenters/Authors
Sian Whitehead
(), Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, swhitehead@gwct.org.uk;
ASHA DISCLOSURE:
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David Baines
(), Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust, dbaines@gwct.org.uk;
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