Capercaillie

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Capercaillie in the UK

Capercaillie is a rare resident found only in Scotland. The native birds died out by the 1780s and today's population comes from Swedish birds released in 1837, so it sits in Category C of the British List. The national survey of 2021-22 found 532 birds, down from 1,114 in 2015-16 and about 2,200 in the early 1990s. Recent lek counts on managed reserves have risen a little. Poor breeding in wet springs, predation, deer-fence collisions and human disturbance all play a part. Red-listed, and protected under Schedule 1.

Where and when to see a Capercaillie

Most of the remaining birds are in the pinewoods of the Cairngorms National Park, mainly Strathspey. The advice from the RSPB is not to go looking for Capercaillie at all. Disturbing a lek is an offence and can cost a breeding season. If you walk these forests, keep to waymarked paths, keep dogs on a lead and avoid forest tracks at dawn in April and May. If you meet a bird on a path, back away and leave.

Habitat, diet and field notes

Habitat: Scottish pine forest.
Diet: Pine needles, shoots.
Field note: Critically low UK population.

How to identify a Capercaillie

The largest grouse in the world. A male is 74 to 85 cm long and about 4 kg, the size of a turkey. He is slate-black with brown wings, a glossy green breast, a white shoulder spot, a red wattle over the eye and a pale, hooked bill. In display he fans his tail upright. The female is about half the weight, barred brown and grey, with a plain rusty-orange breast patch and a rounded tail. Birds flush with a crash of wings.

Call and song

Mostly silent. At the lek the male gives a quiet series of clicks that speed up, a pop like a cork leaving a bottle, then a wheezy scraping sound. It carries only a short way. Females give a pheasant-like "kok-kok". Heard something you cannot place? Bird Hear identifies UK birds from a 10 second recording, free in your browser.

Confusion species

• Black Grouse: Black Grouse is far smaller: the male has a lyre-shaped tail and white wing bar, and the female lacks the plain orange breast and has a notched tail.
• Ring-necked Pheasant: A hen Pheasant is slimmer and paler with a long pointed tail, where a female Capercaillie has a broad rounded one.

Related guide Bird migration in Britain.

Conservation status and Birdedex points

In the Birdedex the Capercaillie is a Rare tier bird, worth +8 points when you log one. It is Red-listed in Birds of Conservation Concern 5, the highest level of concern in the UK. It is protected under Schedule 1 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981, so it is an offence to disturb it at or near the nest. We blur the location of every sighting of this species.

Where to see it

Reserves where the Capercaillie is on the list:

• RSPB Loch Garten

Recent UK sightings

Similar birds

• Continental Coal TitRare · Pine forest
• Parrot CrossbillRare · Pine forest (very rare)
• Black WoodpeckerEpic · Old beech and pine forest
• Crested TitUncommon · Caledonian pine forest
• Scottish CrossbillEpic · Caledonian pine forest
• Tengmalm's OwlLegendary · Pine forest (very rare)

Capercaillie: quick answers

Where can I see a Capercaillie in the UK?

Only in Scottish pine forest, and you should not try. The RSPB asks birders not to search for them, because the birds are so few and so easily disturbed. Any sighting should be a chance one from a marked path.

Is the Capercaillie rare in the UK?

Yes. With just over 500 birds it is at real risk of dying out in Britain for a second time. The range has shrunk by more than two thirds since the first breeding atlas in 1968 to 1972.

What does a Capercaillie eat?

In winter it lives almost entirely on Scots pine needles and buds, feeding up in the trees. From spring to autumn it feeds on the ground on blaeberry leaves, shoots and berries, plus other plants and seeds. Chicks need insects, mainly caterpillars, for their first weeks.

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