HABITAT MANAGEMENT
TARGETED MANAGEMENT
In the past, habitat management implemented in Wales for black grouse conservation was concentrated at
sites where there have been sympathetic land managers, or sites where funding became available..
Consequently, geographical targeting of black grouse management had been rather ad hoc, opportunistic and
small scale. To be successful, a more effective approach was necessary. The recovery project for black
grouse aimed to establish a suite of environmental conditions that ultimately would result in viable sustainable
populations. With this in mind, the project developed a system of targeting prescriptive management over a
range of spatial scales (Figure 1).
Female brood rearing area (c30ha)
Brood
scale
Direction for focused
habitat management
1.5km radius around prioritised leks
Focal lek scale
Defined area encompassing suitable habitat
and a viable population
Six defined areas representing 80%
Key area scale
Core area scale
of the Welsh population in 1997
Figure 1. Targeted approach to black grouse habitat management
In Wales, Williams et al. (1997) showed 80% of the population in 1997 was restricted within a core area (core
area scale). In this core area, based mainly on the presence of suitable habitat and known distribution of male
black grouse, 6 key areas (key area scale) were identified. The populations in the key areas are composed of
individual birds using a variable number of lek sites (the lek scale). Cayford (1992) recommended that
management prescriptions should first be targeted within a 1.5km radius of known leks (Figure 2). In this
project, those leks that had the highest counts of males in the period 1992-1997 were identified as priority leks
(the focal lek scale). Within the lek scale are the smaller brood rearing areas (up to 30ha) that form the brood
scale. Fine scale management of the habitat structure and composition of these areas may be required to
ensure that food and cover is available for broods.
Habitat management was initially targeted at areas within the focal lek radii where hens and broods were
recorded during the 1997 and 1998 late summer brood counts. As the project developed, habitat management
expanded outside focal lek radii to adjacent sites within the key area boundaries. The viability of black grouse
populations and the potential for range expansion is dependant, amongst other factors, on the dispersal
distances of both males and females. Therefore, the availability of suitable habitat within the distances that
the species will move, both within and between key areas, is very important.
During 1997-1998, information was collated on the habitat composition for all key areas. The classification
was based on analysis of previous surveys (eg Birkes and Ratcliffe, National Vegetation Classification
(NVC), Phase 1 data) collected in the late 1980’s (CCW, Unpub). This data was checked for changes on the
ground in 1997 and maps produced using a black grouse habitat classification system and digitised on GIS
(MAPINFO 5) (see Figure 2 for an example). These maps were then analysed to produce work plans
detailing the habitat management required for all focal leks (see Welsh Black Grouse Recovery Project Plan,
1999). These plans gave costs for a management programme of habitat prescriptions proposed for each focal
lek.
HABITAT PRESCRIPTIONS
The provision of suitable habitat at the required scale is the most important and yet the most difficult aspect
of black grouse recovery in Wales because it inevitably requires the encouragement of less intensive
agricultural and woodland practices. Although some focal lek radii within the key areas required little habitat
management, black grouse populations were in decline at the majority of the areas, therefore suitable habitat
had to be created. At many of these sites, substantial and expensive habitat changes were required to
maintain the populations.
Adopting the targeted habitat management system shown in Figure 1 the project aimed to create and enhance
favourable habitats at varying spatial scales that black grouse require for feeding, egg laying and chick
rearing through a variety of habitat prescriptions. Priority was given to habitats that were in an unfavourable
condition, such as upland heath, managing where appropriate, vegetation such as bracken and heather. In
addition, where forest management was appropriate, several forests were restructured with permanent open
space created. Table 1 details the level of prescriptions implemented within each key area.
Key area scale
Size: 101 1-km2
Lek scale
Size: 707ha
Brood scale
Size: 30ha
Figure 2 Habitat structure and targeted management at a black grouse key area
In summary, the management implemented to restore black grouse populations was a
combination of the following broad habitat prescriptions.
Bracken control
Rationale
The ability of bracken to spread quickly and colonise new areas is due to it being highly
competitive, resistant to disease, encouraged by fire, tolerant to a wide range of soil types and
unpalatable to grazing livestock. In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s, headage-based subsidies
encouraged Welsh farmers to increase their stock, this contributed to an increase in sheep
numbers in Wales between this period. Intensive grazing regimes led to less sensitive upland
management and gave bracken a competitive advantage in many upland areas in Wales. As a
result, bracken encroachment on areas of upland heath increased considerably in the early
1990’s.
Although bracken provides additional cover for black grouse, it is of little dietary value. The
decision to control bracken is subjective, and each site should be treated independently
depending on whether it is an invasive threat to upland habitats or to components of the
habitat mosaic that black grouse require.
Management
Assessment of 2 key areas, Ruabon/Llandegla Moor and North Berwyn, by the RSPB and
CCW showed there was a serious problem of bracken encroachment on areas of upland heath.
After consultation and financial assistance from CCW, local landowners and shooting tenants,
275 ha of bracken were aerially sprayed with the herbicide Asulox. This herbicide was
sprayed during late July and early August when the fronds have fuller opened. Asulox is
absorbed by the fronds and translocated to underground rhizomes, which would normally
have developed in the following year. Using this method of control Asulox spraying was very
effective and resulted in a 90-95% kill rate of bracken at all sites sprayed. A follow-up
combination of aerial and ground spraying at these sites was implemented during 2000 and
2001 following recommendations by Rhone-Poulenc (1999).
Upland heath management
Rationale
In Wales, heather and bilberry are important food plants that form the bulk of black grouse
diet throughout the year (Cayford 1990). Other supportive evidence from Scotland (Picozzi
& Hepburn 1984) and Northern England (Baines 1993) suggests the importance of heather to
black grouse diet. All these studies showed an increase in heather consumption during the
autumn and winter months. Heather also provides cover for nests, foraging broods and
roosting birds. However, extensive areas of heather moorland alone do not necessarily
support black grouse (Garson & Starling 1990).
Management
Areas of unmanaged or poorly managed heather moor within all key areas were identified in
1999-2000. Initial targeting was at the brood scale within the focal lek radii based on data
collected from radio-tagged broods, late summer brood counts (locations of hens and broods)
and personal observations of flushed birds. These areas were prioritised for heather
management within a buffer of 1000m from the forest edge to create a mosaic of differing
heather age and height classes.
Heather burning is accepted as a traditional management tool in the uplands, particularly, on
grouse estates. However, due to the time constraints of the project, the scale of the areas to
manage and the limited number of dry days to burn, this project adopted heather cutting,
using a standard heather flail mounted on a tractor, as the preferred management method.
Based on the heather cutting techniques of strip mowing developed by the RSPB in 1998,
novel methods of cutting were introduced in 1999 and 2000 to create a mosaic of favoured
habitats. For example, strip mowing small patches (30m x 40m) at targeted areas of flat wet
ground grading to dry heath banks. At such sites, the cut areas encouraged the development
of young and nutritious growth of bilberry, heather, cotton grass and other grasses and sedges.
Within forest boundaries heather cutting was also implemented using a tractor mounted flail,
if vehicular access was impossible or the habitat was particularly fragile (eg blanket bog),
small patches (5m x 5m) were cut manually using brush-cutters. Heather cutting created
structured habitat mosaics that provided seasonal important feeding areas for black grouse.
Areas of continuous, tall, leggy de-generate heather were burned where possible to encourage
regeneration from seed. In total, nearly 530ha of heather was either cut or burned within the 6
key areas.
Several studies in wooded areas show the importance of extensive bilberry patches for chick
foraging areas due to the high densities of moth larvae found there. With this view, the
project mowed, dry gentle sloping banks adjacent to flushes within and outside forestry to
create bilberry ‘banks’.
Maintenance of bogs and flushes
Rationale
In early spring black grouse, particularly hens, feed extensively on the newly emergent flower
heads of cotton grass (Parr & Watson 1988; Cayford 1990). It is suggested the immature
flowers of cotton grass are highly proteinaeous and energy rich and may be an important
dietary component to aid optimal clutch production. Mires and wet flushes, where sedges and
cotton grasses predominate, are often insect-rich (Coulson & Butterfield 1985) and important
feeding areas for female black grouse and broods in summer (Baines 1993).
Management
The project restored and created wet areas by rendering drains, grips and redundant forestry
ditches ineffective. Experimental peat damming was implemented manually to increase the
area of wet ground adjacent to existing flushes. These were extremely effective but were
restricted to small areas due to the cost of works. Later the project used mechanical diggers to
extensively wet-up areas by a combination of shallow scraping. This method was cost
effective and produced the desired effect, but the use of heavy machinery (eg Hymac) was
restricted by access and fragility of the site (eg blanket bog).
Findings from a Welsh radio-tagging study investigating the mortality of black grouse chicks
showed a small proportion of tagged chicks had died from starvation and/or hypothermia after
falling in to deep-sided forest drains (RSPB Unpub.). To reduce this factor of mortality forest
drains were either collapsed and compacted level using a mechanical digger or overhanging
vegetation was cut linear along the drain 2m either side.
Using a tractor mounted flail, patches ranging in size from 5m2 to 10m2 were cut into areas of
rank vegetation adjacent to flushes. These sites were managed to provide chick access to
existing flushes and mires and to encourage the development of cotton grass ‘beds’.
Forest management
Rationale
The presence of woodland is generally accepted to be an essential habitat component to black
grouse within an open landscape (Johnsgard 1983). Although, some populations in northern
England and Scotland will persist in relatively treeless landscapes. Studies in the UK show
black grouse select young forest stands, typically from 1-20 years old before canopy closure
occurs (Garson & Starling, 1990, Haysom 2001) or open woodlands where the tree density is
less than 200 stems per hectare (Mcfarlane 2002). In Wales, Cayford (1990c) showed tree
density within conifer forests was more critical than tree height because of the shading effect
of canopy closure on the loss of heather and bilberry. Cayford’s study also revealed black
grouse selected coups (forest compartments) with 15-40% canopy cover, which were often
associated with crops that had failed. In Wales, black grouse usage of woodlands maybe
determined by five factors; woodland size, tree spacing, canopy cover, woodland field layer
management, and the proximity of woodlands to heather moorland and marginal farmland.
Management
The majority of conifer woodlands within the key areas are; wind firm established crops with
a closed canopy (thicket-stage), have little if no field layer management and offer little scope
for management at the forest level until Forest Design Plans are implemented. However,
large-scale conifer removal projects were targeted at four upland forests: Penaran, Clocaenog,
Dyfnant, and Llanbrynmair. At these sites, different densities of trees (up to a maximum
height of 7m) mainly of low yield class (<8) Sitka spruce and pre-thicket coups were removed
over large areas, between 45-100ha, by a combination of manual and mechanical methods.
This intensive management created a mosaic of different tree densities, canopy cover and
open space, with an average tree density of 10% (250 tress per hectare) across the entire site.
In addition, where appropriate, the edges along forest boundaries (up to 500m), firebreaks and
coups were thinned, replicating bands 1 and 2 in Figure 3.
To encourage field layer regeneration all brashings from felled conifers were inserted into
redundant forest drains, chipped, piled or removed off site. In most cases, the under-storey
was also cut/mowed in small 5m2 patches to provide a ground flora mosaic for foraging
broods.
 50 broad-leafs per ha
BAND 1
BAND 2
BAND 3
BAND 4
10% trees
@ 220 per ha
20-50% trees
@ 440-1200 per ha
60-80% trees
@ >1320 per ha
100% trees
@ 2200 per ha
0-40m
41-85m
86-100m
DISTANCE (m)
OPEN MOOR
CONIFER PLANTATION
Figure 3. Ideal forest management for black grouse
The forest management implemented at these sites now forms the basis of long-term projects
and are used as demonstration sites of best practice.
Grant aid mechanisms
Rationale
Encouraging sympathetic and integrated sustainable habitat management for black grouse is a
challenging objective, since there may be insufficient control of the land-use, and the
owner/occupier will have stringent economic objectives to meet. The need to target incentive
schemes to undertake habitat work in the six key areas was integral to the recovery project.
It was recognised some of the outlined management prescriptions may be funded under
existing grant aid mechanisms in agriculture (Tir Gofal), forestry (Woodland Grant Scheme)
and site safeguard (Section 15 agreements between CCW and landowners). Working closely
with Tir Gofal Project Officers, farms that were offered agreements within the black grouse
core area were visited to encourage uptake of special projects to create favourable black
grouse habitat.
The recovery project had a strong working partnership with the Forestry Commission, Forest
Enterprise and private forest companies within the project core area. The recovery project,
where possible encouraged uptake of Woodland Grant Schemes (WGS) targeting conifer
removal and ride management. The WGS approves costs of £1,350 per ha for planting grants
and £650 per ha regeneration grants. Despite a successful WGS project at Canon Farm, many
private woodland owners whom had strict economic objectives to meet considered the grant
structure of 50% match funding an insufficient incentive to apply.
Over the project period, the Project Officer was consulted by Forest Enterprise and private
woodland owners/managers on 12 Forest Design Plans, incorporating over 800ha of
favourable habitat for black grouse.
HABITAT MANAGEMENT COSTS
During August 1999 to December 2001, nearly 1,400 ha were managed directly for black
grouse at a cost of £320,267. The achieved target is the total area directly managed by the
project, it does not account for land that has been/will be managed by other grant aid schemes
because of the project’s advisory elements. When all prescription costs were summed, it gave
an average cost of £240 per ha. All the habitat management within the project core area was
undertaken by locally hired contractors where possible and represented 3,052 contractor mandays or 14 man-years (1 man year equals 220 man days). Dividing the number of contractor
man-years by the number of project years (2.5 years), equated to 6 full time equivalent jobs
(FTE’s)
Summary
The project created and restored favourable habitats by targeted management at the key area,
lek and brood scale within the core of the species’ distribution in Wales.
Habitat management was a combination of bracken control, upland heath, flush and forest
management.
A model for forest edge management/design was developed and advocated to the forestry
sector.
Between August 1999 and December 2001, the expenditure charged to habitat management
projects was £320,267 and represented 3,052 contractor man-days.
The total area of habitat prescriptions implemented within the black grouse core areas
between August 1999 and March 2000 was 1,337 ha and composed of bracken control
(520ha), heather management (527ha), conifer removal (256 ha) and flush creation (35ha).