When a group of 6 to 8 black grouse were recorded along the access track to a major highland construction site in February 2017 our ECoW worked closely with the workforce to minimise the disturbance to the birds whilst allowing work on site to continue. Monitoring of the birds helped us locate the lek location and mitigation measures were put in place. The measures consisted of a “no-stopping/beacons off” buffer zone at sensitive times of day around dawn and dusk, with further monitoring by the ECoW to establish if the mitigation measures were having the desired effect.
Post breeding season monitoring recorded recently fledged birds in the vicinity of the lek indicating that breeding had occurred and the mitigation measures were successful. The black grouse have returned to the same location in 2018, with up to 22 lekking males recorded on site.