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Likened to the sound of a popping Champagne cork, when you hear the call of the capercaillie in Scotland, it is cause for celebration. Amounting to 20,000 in the 1970s, the population fell at an alarming rate, to as few as 1000 in 1999.
Since then, various arms of the RSPB, as well as other conservation bodies, have managed to bring about a stabilisation. In 2003, it was even estimated that numbers might have doubled. Today, however, with threats from habitat loss, disturbance, climate change and vital funding due to run out, there is still a long way to go before the iconic capull collie (‘horse of the woods’) regains supremacy.
My first encounter with the capercaillie was at the RSPB-led initiative, Friends of Capercaille’s (FOC) second biannual gathering. Chaired by high-profile landowner and passionate supporter of the RSPB, Lord Lindsay, Friends of Capercaillie was set up in 2003, to give people interested in wildlife the chance to have a long-term involvement in a focused conservation effort. ‘When I saw the graph showing the decline of the caper, I had a gut feeling that, if we could get the right kind of support, it would succeed,’ Lord Lindsay explains. With over 50 per cent of remaining caper isolated on private estates, and management of habitat essential, the involvement of Scotland’s landowners is vital.
FOC also attracts support from a whole host of organisations and individuals, even from as far afield as America. Indeed, there is even an ex-pat, Alasdair Sutherland, who, on remembering the extraordinary cork-popping noise of the male caper, decided to name his Australian winery after the species. Having gained worldwide recognition, Capercaillie wine now donates 20 per cent of profits from each case sold through the RSPB, to caper conservation.
Arriving on a beautiful, crisp day, at the most southerly of the caper habitats, Loch Lomond, I joined some of the ‘friends’ for the latest progress report.
