Moorland Adventures

The Black Grouse is an impressive bird inhabiting open moorland.



Quite often on the single track roads of Ardnamurchan they are found on the road in the late afternoon early evening looking for grit. Closer to home there are a number of leks locally each offering reasonable views of the male birds as they perform their "gladiatorial" contests to impress the females.



The majority of the displaying does not end in physical contact with one or other of the birds backing down and moving away. Much like stags during the rut the birds walk side by side comparing size.

Fights between the males are usually brief and often don't involve any contact as seen here



There are a series of full spins by each bird and it is at the end of one of these 360 degree spins that full contact can take place.



In normal circumstances you would probably not perhaps choose such a lonely venue to sit in your car anywhere from 4am onwards waiting for the sun to come up - there is no ambient light up there and it is dark ! With the window down the only sounds are the birds challenging each other and the wind blowing through the heather.



These are hardy birds who can often when the temperatures drop can be seen with a layer of ice on them.



As in the world of IT Apps this could be called the BETA test. The light in some circumstances is poor and with the advantages that Canons LiveView can be bring to low light photography - I have attempted to video some of the scenes. The video performing when there is not enough light to click the shutter. Trial and error at the moment and other than trimming perhaps a whole new venture into video editing. One of the main issues I have to combat is how to "kill" off the sound of the lens correcting itself - so for those interested click on the link to see a hare amongst the Black Grouse.

Driving on and further into the hills and deeper into Wales there are also opportunities to both see and photograph Red Grouse.