Sometimes its difficult not to question your sanity especially when its 4:30am and you’re heading west down the M56 with the controls set for the end of the World. Just over an hour later and I’m driving along in 2nd gear down a single track road between Minera and Worlds End listening out for the call of the male Black Grouse. After a few minutes the distinctive bubbling call could be heard I pulled over in the nearest layby and scanned the horizon. Incredibly, right in front of me Black Grouse began to appear out of the darkness.
Ever the optimist beforehand I thought I might see perhaps half a dozen but as the light began to spill across the hillside it became clear a full blown lek involving at least 24 male Black Grouse was in progress.
Note: Video includes the distinctive sounds of the Black Grouse lek.
A message to self – turn the volume up!
No schedule 1 listed birds were disturbed in the making of this post.
Seriously for anyone intending to visit stay in the car, the grouse are very sensitive to disturbance and with the lek being so close to the road the birds will fly off the moment a door is opened. If hoping to take photo’s/video remember to bring a beanbag. All these photos were taken before dawn at ISO 2500. Handholding a 400mm lens at 1/125 isn’t going to work.
There is at least one more lek further down the road on the other side of the river however its probably close to 250m away.