Capercaillie ‘could die out in a decade’

The species' numbers have halved and climate change may wipe it out, an expert says

The capercaillie, one of Scotland's most famous birds, could be extinct within a decade due to global warming, the world's leading expert on the species has warned.

Capercaillie numbers have fallen by more than half and could be as low as 700.

Dr Robert Moss, the UK's leading authority on capercaillies, blames the potentially catastrophic decline on human encroachment onto the capercaillie's natural habitat combined with the changing weather pattern in Scotland. A succession of mild winters and cold springs has led hens to produce weaker chicks, which are more susceptible to disease and predation.

Moss, formerly of the Centre for Hydrology and Ecology in Banchory, Aberdeenshire, is also concerned that a stronghold of the birds in Speyside is under threat from a tourism drive

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