The Land of the Lune - Drakkar Press

104 Chapter 6: Middleton Fell
Crag Hill from Calf Top, with a glimpse of Whernside to the left and Ingleborough to the right
small caves around the rocks at the beck’s edge, as befits
its proper name of troglodytes troglodytes.
To the east, above the limestone outcrops, not visible
from Barbon Beck but prominent from Calf Top, a large
area has been set aside for heather, perhaps to provide a
home for grouse. On visiting in 2006 I was pleased to
see this had been successful in attracting black grouse.
Black grouse have become extinct in many counties of
England, including, it is believed, Lancashire, which is
only a few kilometres away. In 1998 there were only
800 breeding males left in England. The North Pennines
Black Grouse Recovery Project reported that the English
population of male black grouse increased to about
1200 by 2006, although the bird is still on the red list
of endangered species and in fact declined again after
the wet summers of 2007 and 2008. The male black
grouse or blackcock is much too fine a bird to shoot,
with its glossy, purple-black plumage, red eye patches,
and colourful mating displays. But since writing the
above words I have heard no reports of black grouse in
This is Chapter 6 of The Land of the Lune (2nd edition), http://www.drakkar.co.uk/landofthelune.html, Copyright © 2010 John Self