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Posted: 6th April 2023

Police to patrol capercaillie sites
A census last year counted just 542 capercaillie left in the UK.
People are urged to leave the birds alone during breeding season.

A new campaign is calling on people, especially birdwatchers, photographers and wildlife guides, to avoid disturbing capercaillie this spring as their breeding season gets underway.

The 'Lek It Be' campaign, led by the Cairngorms Capercaillie Project in partnership with other organisations including the RSPB and Police Scotland, aims to protect one of the UK’s most endangered wild birds as their numbers continue to decline.

In the spring, male capercaillies display to females at lek sites. Disturbances from people can cause stress for the birds and prevent them from successfully breeding.

The capercaillie is a legally protected species and it is against the law to disturb them when they are lekking, nesting or raising young.

As well as a public awareness campaign, which includes a video starring naturalist and television presenter Iolo Williams, measures will also be put in places to catch those who ignore the rules. Police officers will patrol the paths around lek sites and CCTV will be in operation.

Park rangers will be stationed near the lek sites to redirect any visitors to the park along routes which avoid areas where the bird is active.

To prevent people from being encouraged to seek out capercaillie by what they see online, photographers are being asked not to post old photographs of the bird on social media during the breeding season and Facebook groups are requested to reject any capercaillie photo submissions.

Numbers of capercaillies have declined dramatically in the UK in recent decades. From 10,000 breeding pairs in the 1960s, there are now fewer than 600 individual birds left. The Cairngorms National Park is home to 85 per cent of the UK capercaillie population.

Dan Sutherland, wildlife crime officer for Highland and Islands Division, said: “Following the arrest of a birdwatcher last April we will be conducting dawn patrols around lek sites. If you see someone disturbing capercaillie, call Police Scotland on 101

“It is a criminal offence to disturb capercaillie whilst they are breeding, whilst they are on or near a nest containing eggs or young, or whilst they are with dependent young. In the Highlands, we are fortunate to have rare and endangered species including capercaillie and we are committed to preventing wildlife crime and deterring criminals who seek to destroy our wild heritage.”



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