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Full Description
A beautifully illustrated book, written by one of our foremost conservationists
The plight of the rare capercaillie and how to stop it becoming extinct
How the Scots pine forest has become dysfunctional for biodiversity
Why the Highland cow, the closest ancestor of the extinct aurochs, holds the key to restoring the capercaillie and biodiversity, while demonstrating the way to restore our natural world
Appalled
by the catastrophic decline of the capercaillie - once a common and widespread
bird in Scotland - Roy Dennis has come up with solutions. The numbers of capers
in Scotland's pine forests have tumbled from 20,000 in the 1960s to about 400
today. The bird is facing extinction and without major conservation recovery
could die out again, as it did in the late 18th century.
Roy Dennis has known the caper
since 1960 and writes about how to save this beautiful 'great turkey-like
bird'. The story - illustrated throughout by magnificent colour photographs -
concerns its old pine forest habitat and how the capercaillie's living space
has become dysfunctional. The key to recovery is to mimic the original ancient
ox, the great aurochs, which had a profound beneficial impact on the ecology of
the woodlands. It was eliminated by humans millennia ago, but its place was
taken by Neolithic cattle arriving here after a long migration from the Middle
East, where they had been domesticated from local aurochs 10,000 years ago. It
was a major step in human evolution.
Those early cattle morphed into
the Highland cow, which is the closest relative of its ancient ancestor. These
cattle, herded by the people living in Scotland, were part of the woodland
scene right through until the middle of the last century. Roy explains why they
are the key to recovery - the cattle would restore the ecosystem, creating path
networks, increasing biodiversity and invertebrate populations to the benefit
of capercaillies but also for the whole of wild nature.
The life of the capercaillie is
dealt with in detail, as is the history and present situation of Highland
cattle - the most recognisable cow in the world and a favourite with everyone.
The contrast with commercial cattle is explained, as is how to get the maximum
benefit for the capercaillie, including greatly increasing the Scots pine
woodlands. This is a book by an expert, written for everyone.
