Achievements

The project began in February 2002 and ran for five years, with a total budget of around £4.5 million.  This project required the involvement and co-operation of a large number of public and private land owners, which was achieved with a high degree of success and enthusiasm.

The third National Capercaillie Survey was carried out in the winter of 2004 and has revealed that the population decline has been halted.  In fact, the population has increased to about 2000 birds!  Halting the decline was one of the major objectives of the LIFE project, so congratulations to all those who have been working hard on all of the project sites.  These National Capercaillie Surveys are carried out regularly, the next one is proposed for 2009.

What have we achieved?

Habitat Management:

	- 374 Ha of variable density thinning in plantations and glades created within 45 Ha of forest. - 97 Ha of heather burning and 170 Ha of heather swiping to improve brood rearing habitat. - Brash piling over 181 Ha to improve the provision of ground cover. - Removal of non-native species to improve Capercaillie habitat across over 700 Ha. - Capercaillie friendly silvicultural regimes initiated on over 900 Ha. - Predator control around lek sites was carried out across almost 34,000 Ha of Capercaillie forest during the project.

Management Planning & Stakeholder co-ordination:

Reducing the risks posed by deer fencing:

- 14.6 Km of deer fences removed within SPA's - 26 Km of deer fences marked within SPA's - Ongoing monitoring of over 10 Km of marked deer fences for evidence of bird strikes. - Repair and monitoring almost 21 Km of stock fences to prevent domestic animals grazing in Capercaillie woods.

Publicity, promotion and recreation:

- A Newseltter was published for each of the last 3 project years. - The project has held 3 open days and a number of events targeted at those involved in Capercaillie conservation, local communities and the wider public. - A project DVD is currently was filmed in 2006. - Management guides and demonstration events were held throughout 2006 to disseminate the results and experience developed through the project.

Project Monitoring Activities undertaken by Forest Research:

An element of the project includes research work, which has been ongoing for the past 5 years, to look at the effectiveness of some of the operational work being carried out through the project.  Examples of the research and monitoring work that has been carried out during the course of the project are:

1) Predator control:  There is clear evidence of the positive effect of keepering on the presence of target predators (foxes and corvids), consistent with the objectives of the project.  The policy of using resources on predator removal appears to be having a significant effect by reducing the potential predation pressure exerted by these two predators on Capercaillie.

Through site monitoring work, it has been concluded that there is evidence of the presence of non-target predator species (including those protected by law) in both keepered and non-keepered sites.

2)  Fence removal and marking:  Fence marking has significantly reduced the collision rate of woodland grouse against fences, and is providing a demonstration of the deployment and durability of the range of materials.  The removal of deer fences, coupled with predator control on sites of the project, has greatly reduced the occurrence of adult mortality in Capercaillie.

3) Vegetation thinning:  Vegetation thinning has been carried out as a means of habitat enhancement.  Thinning as a habitat enhancement appears to have been successful.  Results suggest that Blaeberry (V.myrtillus) cover has increased in plantations where thinning has taken place.

The monitoring suggests that the composition of the ground vegetation prior to the thinning is important as it can influence the direction and degree of the response of the different species.  The final judgement on the success of vegetation thinning as a means of habitat enhancement must await additional time since treatment and further measurements, although results so far have been very encouraging.

Further monitoring and research:

Additional monitoring and research projects have been carried out by other project members.  This additional monitoring and research has and will only further aid the understanding of successful habitat management, and hopefully, aid in the continued conservation and recovery of the Capercaillie.

Monitoring Scotland's Capercaillie Population:

The National Population Increases The third National Capercaillie Survey was carried out in the winter of 2004 and has revealed that the population decline has been halted.  In fact, the population has increased to about 2000 birds!  Halting the decline was one of the major objectives of the LIFE project, so congratulations to all those who have been working hard on all of the project sites.  These National Capercaillie Surveys are carried out regularly, the next one will be in 2010.
Brood Counts This table summarises brood count work carried out to 2005 as part of the project.  This work is mainly funded by SNH and carried out by GCT and Dr. Robert Moss.  Breeding success was reasonably good in 2002, but dropped a little in 2003- possibly due to the extremely dry weather reducing the amount of insects and water available to chicks.  Disappointingly, breeding success was even worse in 2004 due to the very cold, wet weather in June.  However, breeding success thankfully increased in 2005.	Year No of sites Area km2 Cocks Hens Total no adults Broods Chicks Chicks per hen 2002 19 75.6 69 111 180 57 131 1.18 2003 24 87.0 94 126 220 47 103 0.82 2004 24 93.0 73 127 205 17 34 0.27 2005 25 89.7 86 116 202 202 75 0.65 2006
Summary of weather in relation to brood counts (metapopulation 3) This table shows the relationship between rainfall and the number of chicks per hen located during brood counts on LIFE project sites.  In years with heavy rainfall, productivity is depressed, even where extensive predator control is implemented.  It is thought that tall, rank ground vegetation exacerbates the effects of wet weather by wetting young chicks as they forage, causing them to die of exposure - Capercaillie chicks cannot thermoregulate for the first fourteen days.	Year June weather summary   June rainfall at Abernethy (mm) No sites counted (same sites) Hens Chicks Broods % of hens with broods Chicks per hen 2002 Mild and dry 30.20 8 66 90 37 56 1.36 2003 Very hot and very dry 15.95 8 74 56 25 34 1.03 2004 Cold and heavy rain 127.70 8 67 10 6 9 0.15 2005 Cool with rain 71.70 8 70 43 24 34 0.61 2006
Lek Counts This table summarises lek counts carried out at 44 project sites between 2002 and 2004.  Thanks to the efforts of those involved in the LIFE project, the numbers of males counted at leks increased again in 2004!	Year Number of project leks counted Minimum number of cocks counted Mean number of cocks per lek 2002 44 135 3.07 2003 44 154 3.50 2004 44 185 4.20 2005 44 162 3.68 2006