Interactive Moorland

Moorland

Red grouse

Lagopus scotica

A plump, reddish-brown bird of the heather, with a red eyebrow and feathered white legs.

Size
About 38cm long
Look for it
All year round
Where
Heather moorland in Scotland, northern England and Wales

My spotter's list

Walks after you through the heather, and whirrs off low when you get far ahead. Move your pointer and see.

When to look

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Red grouse

Good to know

Six things about the red grouse

Call

Go back, go back

Its loud call sounds like "go-back, go-back, go-back" as it bursts out of the heather.

Food

A heather eater

Red grouse eat almost nothing but heather: the young shoots, the flowers and the seeds.

Feet

Feathered feet

Its legs and toes are covered in pale feathers, like built-in snow boots.

Home

Only here

The red grouse lives only in Britain and Ireland. It is found nowhere else in the world.

Brows

Red eyebrows

The male has a bright red comb above each eye, which swells up in spring.

Flying

Low and fast

It takes off with whirring wings and then glides low over the moor with its wings bowed down.

The real thing

Photos of the red grouse

Red grouse, photo 1
Photo: MPF, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
Red grouse, photo 2
Photo: caroline legg, CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons
Red grouse, photo 3
Photo: Llywelyn2000, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
Out and about

How to spot one

Walk a path through heather moorland and listen for the "go-back, go-back" call. Birds often stand on a tussock or rock to look around.

Lend a hand

How to help

Keep dogs on leads from March to July, when grouse are nesting on the ground, and take care never to start a fire on the moor.

Keep going

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