UK Biodiversity Action Plan

Black grouse is a priority species for action in the UK BAP because of its rapid decline during the 1990s. This means that the performance of the government in achieving sustainable development will, in part, be influenced by the fortunes of black grouse. It also means that there is now a real focus and impetus to save the species.

The UKBAP for black grouse was published in 1999. It sets out the problems facing black grouse in the UK, set targets for the species' recovery and proposed a series of actions to achieve these targets, giving responsibility for the delivery of these actions to various government departments, agencies and voluntary organisations.

Lead partners
The government asked the Game Conservancy Trust and the RSPB to be joint lead partners of the UK BAP, and nominated Scottish Natural Heritage as the government contact point. These organisations are jointly responsible for overseeing the co-ordination of action to meet the species' targets and reporting on these to the government. Click here for contact details.

Targets
The UK targets for black grouse, revised in 2001, are to:

1. Maintain the population of black grouse (at least at its 1996 level).
2. Restore the range of black grouse to its 1988-91 extent by 2008-11.
3. In the long term (20 years), increase the range of the black grouse in the UK.
4. In the long term (20 years), increase the population of the black grouse in the UK.
5. Promote re-colonisation of formerly occupied areas between currently isolated populations by 2005.

Click here for the Action Plan in full.

Progress so far...
In 2002, the UK steering group reviewed progress to date, as part of a report to the UK Biodiversity Partnership. The group considered that, principally through recovery projects in Wales and the North Pennines, considerable progress was being made, but that the outlook in Scotland was less positive, though a lack of recent monitoring makes it difficult to quantify this. Therefore, the group concluded, that some progress was being made towards preventing further losses, but at the current rate, it is unlikely that this will be sufficient to achieve recolonisation of formerly occupied areas by 2005 or to restore its range to levels of the early 1990s by 2011.

The group identified regional recovery partnerships as major successes, enabling funding and expertise to be targeted in priority areas of Britain. However, even here, the group considered that a lack of flexibility and insufficient funds in woodland and agricultural grant schemes to be major constraints to achieving restoration of the population, especially while there remains a focus on timber and livestock production. It also identified a lack of funds for monitoring as a constraint to assessing progress.

Click here for a copy of the UK BAP 2002 report in full (you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader).

Click here for details of the Biodiversity Action Reporting System (BARS), an information system that supports the planning, monitoring and reporting requirements of national, local and company BAPs. It also allows has details about the progress being made with local and national BAPs.

Country steering groups
Following the review, the UK steering group considered how best to deliver the UK BAP for black grouse. It is clear that restoring the black grouse population is complex, influenced by a range of factors and policies that affect different types of land-use. These tend to be different in Scotland, Wales and England, and the power to achieve the targets is in the hands of a range of organisations, many of which operate in only one of these countries.

So, responsibility for delivery of the black grouse BAP now rests with steering groups in each country. Matters that are best co-ordinated at a UK level - such as co-ordinating monitoring and good practice, sharing information (such as through this website) and reporting on progress to government – are managed by a smaller group, comprising the lead partners and the government contact point, in conjunction with the convenors/chairs of each country steering group.

Click here for a list of the key contacts in the UKBAP