Capercaillie and Pine Marten

mudman

Well-Known Member
Had a quiet night at work and found this article on the net, seems like when you have spent many thousands of pounds on conserving the Caper by getting the habitat right, removing deer fences, culling foxe and crows then along comes the Pine Marten and eats half the eggs !

http://www.wildlifebiology.com/Downloads/Manuscript/100/En/08036pre.pdf

Anyone in Caper country have an up to date impression of how the birds are faring, I would'nt mind seeing one until before its too late.
 
Six or seven years ago I could see Caper most days here if I went to the more suitable areas. Many guests saw their first birds with me. Pine Marten were also here and although mainly nocturnal, could be seen during stalks not too infrequently. Without a doubt they eat eggs and chicks but the biggest impact on Caper numbers here have been disturbance by dog walkers exercising their right to roam which is enshrined in law while their responsibilies remain just guidlines.

David
 
Had a quiet night at work and found this article on the net, seems like when you have spent many thousands of pounds on conserving the Caper by getting the habitat right, removing deer fences, culling foxe and crows then along comes the Pine Marten and eats half the eggs !

http://www.wildlifebiology.com/Downloads/Manuscript/100/En/08036pre.pdf

Anyone in Caper country have an up to date impression of how the birds are faring, I would'nt mind seeing one until before its too late.
halle-****ing-lujah!!

And I thought it was just me that couldnt understand how the greenies thought the Pine Marten and the Caper could live in the same house in perfect harmony!

Some people just cant think logically.
 
kin RSPB spend thousands on bustards but caper and black grouse would be easy to catch in scandinvia for a captive breeding program for release . Protect what we have instead of reintroducing stuff we lost years ago i say
 
I don't think the RSPB are involved with the Great Bustard re introduction.

A couple of Black Grouse re introductions have been attempted in recent years, one of them at least has failed even though many BG were released over the period of a few years. I think the mistake they made was releasing broody reared birds, some of which starved to death after release because they did not find the feeders which were put out for them. I think they would have had better success planting BG eggs in Red Grouse nests. The Game Conservancy has also had some success catching up wild BG and transporting them for release elsewhere, but I guess you need plenty of BG in at least one place to be able to do that. It seems alot of BG get chopped by Goshawks and alot of Caper nests are lost to Pine Martens, tricky to provide a legal solution. It cannot be beyond the wit of man though to stop both BG and Caper sliding towards extinction.
 
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its the same crack in the lake district, spending thousands saving the red squirrels and some loon wants to encourage the spread of the pine marten its either have lots of one and not the other, make your mind up time.:cuckoo:
 
Back in the 80s when tax incentives meant massive tracts of land going to forestry black grouse numbers for the first few years went up and up,but as the trees reached a certain hight it was all down hill, the reintroduction of Goshawks aroungd the same time im sure never helped, but it was plain to see it was very much a Habitat issue...


nelll
 
Pine Martins are not as rare as some would make out, around Inverness area you need to make sure chickens are well shut in at night or you will loose the lot to Martins, I know of one osprey nest not 4 miles from town centre that get hit by martins, last year one got in to rearing pen and killed 12 just for the fun of it, how do they know when the electric fence has shorted?

YIS

Bod
 
Totally agree with Nell. Fact is Blackgrouse are a pioneer species preferring new woodland and scrub while Caper need a certain level of maturity in the pines to really thrive. No Bod Pine Marten are not rare ,I saw one at my bird table this morning, but in the past they did live in the woods with the Caper. The huge impact I believe has been the various activities of Man, felling mature Pines and rambling all over what is left!
David
 
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