Black Grouse (Lyrurus tetrix)
Key Details
| Taxonomic Groups: | Vertebrate > bird > Bird |
| Red List Status: | Vulnerable (Breeding) [VU(br)] |
| D5 Status: | Included in the baseline Red List Index for England (Wilkins, Wilson & Brown, 2022) |
| Section 41 Status: | (not listed) |
| Taxa Included Synonym: | Tetrao tetrix subsp. britannicus, Lyrurus tetrix britannicus |
| UKSI Recommended Name: | Lyrurus tetrix |
| UKSI Recommended Authority: | (Linnaeus, 1758) |
| UKSI Recommended Qualifier: | (none specified) |
| Red List Citation: | Stanbury et al., 2021 |
| Notes on taxonomy/listing: | in s41 as Tetrao tetrix subsp. britannicus |
Criteria
| Question 1: | Does species need conservation or recovery in England? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Historic loss of range and current restricted distribution. England population size needs accurate evaluation. |
| Question 2: | Does recovery/ conservation depend on species-specific actions? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Requires moorland fringe and upland grassland habitats with few trees. |
| Question 3: | At a landscape scale, would the species benefit from untargeted habitat management to increase habitat mosaics, structural diversity, or particular successional stages? |
| Response: | Yes |
| Justification: | Creation of moorland edge habitat mosaics beneficial |
Species Assessment
| Current step on the Species Recovery Curve (SRC): | 6. Recovery solutions trialled |
| Recovery potential/expectation: | Medium-high |
| National Monitoring Resource: | Combination - insufficient |
| Species Comments: |
Key Actions
Key Action 1
Proposed Action: Monitor the English population of Black Grouse as part of a structured species monitoring survey.
Action targets: 3. National Monitoring Plan agreed and implemented
Action type: Targeted monitoring
Duration: 3-5 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 50 sites
High priority sites: North Pennines, Yorkshire Dales, North-west Northumberland
Comments: Last UK survey was in 2005
Key Action 2
Proposed Action: Increase breeding productivity, over-winter survival and promote range expansion and creation of functional habitat links through targeted habitat enhancements and appropriate management of moorland fringe habitats.
Action targets: 7. Best approach adopted at appropriate scales
Action type: Habitat management
Duration: >10 years
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 50 sites
High priority sites: North Pennines, Yorkshire Dales, North-west Northumberland
Comments:
Key Action 3
Proposed Action: Investigate feasibility of further translocations into suitable former breeding areas in the English uplands to recover breeding range and establish functional links between metapopulations, including development of a best practice manual to guide future translocation projects.
Action targets: 6. Recovery solutions trialled
Action type: (Re-)introduction
Duration: Unknown
Scale of Implementation: ≤ 5 sites
High priority sites: Former breeding landscapes in the English uplands
Comments:
Acknowledgment:
Data used on this website are adapted from Threatened species recovery actions 2025 baseline (JP065): Technical report and spreadsheet user guide (Natural England, 2025). Available here.