Capercaillie Emergency Plan 2025 - 2030 - Flipbook - Page 4
2. Introduction and overview
Objective
The objective of this Capercaillie Emergency Plan is to maximise population
impact by enabling the delivery of immediate and targeted measures to improve
capercaillie breeding success and survival across the core of the capercaillie
range, which extends to at least 70,000 hectares in the Cairngorms National Park.
This plan aims to strengthen, and not duplicate work that will benefit capercaillie
which is already defined in the National Park Partnership Plan, Active Cairngorms
Action Plan and Cairngorms National Park Forest Strategy. That work includes
woodland expansion, peatland restoration, deer management, ecological
restoration, and minimising disturbance to sensitive species.
Within that wider context, this plan is focused on maximising current opportunities,
addressing specific gaps and collaboration at a landscape scale to enable greater
levels of action and at pace from 2025 to 2030 to help ensure the long-term
survival and recovery of the capercaillie population in the UK.
Background
Capercaillie numbers have decreased by 51% in the last 5 years with the latest
national survey (2021/22) estimating that there are only 532 capercaillie left in
Scotland. This is the lowest recorded level since the start of the national survey
in 1992 Ð 1994 and places the species at a critical point on the recovery curve.
Figure 1: Species Recovery Curve
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