GROUSE IN SPACE AND TIME: THE POPULATION BIOLOGY OF A MANAGED GAMEBIRD. THE REPORT OF THE GAME CONSERVANCY'S SCOTTISH GROUSE RESEARCH PROJECT and NORTH OF ENGLAND GROUSE RESEARCH PROJECT. By Peter J. Hudson.

1992 1st edition. Large 4to (213 x 303mm). Ppxviii,225. Colour photographs, b/w illustrations, diagrams, bibliography. Pictorial laminated boards.

"In Central Scotland, grouse numbers were reasonable in the mid 1970s, but after poor weather conditions during 1975 and 1976 they started a decline which many people feared to be terminal. By the early 1980s a high proportion of those connected with grouse moors felt in their heart of hearts that grouse shooting in Scotland was a thing of the past. The Scottish Grouse Research Project was started by The Game Conservancy Trust to try to figure out why this dramatic drop in population occurred and try to reverse the decline in Scotland." An important and scholarly work. Required reading for anyone with an interest in grouse. Sections include:- Grouse shooting: ecology and economics; Changes in numbers of grouse and other moorland animals; Demography and annual changes in grouse populations; Population biology of low density grouse populations; Social behaviour of grouse; Hen harrier predation and disturbance of grouse; Population biology of cyclic populations: the effect of the trichostrongyle worm; Ticks and louping ill; Heather loss and restoration techniques. Appendices include:- Status and potential of red grouse in the Spey valley; Red grouse homing for 35 kilometres; Grouse shooting in Scotland: analysis of its importance to the economy and environment; Publications on red grouse by The Game Conservancy.