大象传媒

Capercaillie start before first light, coming down from the trees to strut their stuff on the lek or display ground. The males are magnificent birds, about the size of a turkey. Soon, other males are attracted to the area. The tail fanned out, the white wing patches displayed and a showy red comb over the eye, are all features designed to attract the females. The females are much more drab by comparison, but as they are the only ones that will look after and raise the chicks, they need better camouflage to help protect their youngsters from predators. The males spend most of their time in the tree tops before coming down to display, so they don鈥檛 need the same amount of camouflage. Sometimes the males come to blows over the dispute for women, but more often than not there is just one alpha male and he will hold court in the centre of this display ground, jump-flapping to catch the female鈥檚 eye. It wasn't very long ago that the capercaillie was deemed to be the most likely bird to become extinct in the UK, and since then a tremendous amount of work has been done to balance the numbers. There are now about 2,000 in the UK and their numbers no longer seem to be in decline.