Researchers created fake nests filled with chicken eggs in an effort to save one of the UK’s rarest birds, the capercaillie.

With an estimated population of around 500, all located in a few upland areas of Scotland, capercaillie are ground-nesters whose eggs and chicks are preyed upon by animals such as pine martens and badgers.

A team from the University of Aberdeen placed deer meat near the artificial nests to test if predators could be diverted from the eggs. The trial resulted in an 83% survival rate for the fake nests. This research, conducted in the Cairngorms, has been published in the British Ecological Society’s Journal of Applied Ecology.

The University of Aberdeen’s School of Biological Sciences suggests that diversionary feeding could play a significant role in preventing capercaillie extinction. Following the study, Forestry and Land Scotland, RSPB Scotland, and other organisations are implementing this strategy in Deeside, Aberdeenshire.

The eight-week trial was conducted during the latest breeding season over a 23 sq mile (60 sq km) area managed by the Cairngorms Connect Partnership.

Both capercaillie and pine marten are protected species.

PhD researcher Jack Bamber said: “A major obstacle in effective conservation management is the conflict between recovering predators eating endangered prey.

“This challenge is becoming commonplace in the era of ecosystem restoration.

“In Scotland, the much-celebrated recovery of the pine marten, a nest predator, and the conservation of one of its potential prey, the capercaillie, epitomises this issue.”

Mr. Bamber believes diversionary feeding could resolve the conflict between them.

He added: “Our idea was to fill the bellies of pine martens and other predators, like badgers, in capercaillie strongholds, predicting that once full of free food they would no longer search for eggs.”

In 2022, scientists warned that capercaillie could become extinct in Scotland within 30 years. The bird’s numbers have significantly declined since the 1970s.

While capercaillie are not a conservation concern in continental Europe, they are considered endangered in Scotland, with most found in the Cairngorms National Park.

 

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