Help stop capercaillie colliding with fences

Please let us know about the fences you see in capercaillie areas to help reduce mortalities.

If you spot an unmarked fence, or a marked fence that needs repair, please let us know. Marking fences is a quick win for capercaillie.

The Cairngorms holds the largest area of unfenced woodland regeneration in Scotland. But we still need fences in some places to protect young trees from being browsed.

Research shows that unmarked deer fences are a cause of mortality for woodland grouse. By marking them to help the birds see and avoid the fences, collisions have been reduced by over 60%.

We’re working with estates to remove and mark fences in capercaillie areas, but there may be other fences that are putting the birds at risk. Help us update our map of fences, so we can all help to reduce capercaillie mortalities.

Remember, please stick to forest paths when helping to keep our fence map up to date, to avoid inadvertantly disturbing capercaillie.

Map of fences

View a map of capercaillie fences across the Highlands.

Note: the map currently suggests there are more fences in Strathspey, but this may not be the case - at the moment we just have more data for Strathspey.

Tell us about a fence

If you spot, or know of an unmarked fence, or a marked fence that needs repair in a capercaillie area, please let us know.

Frequently asked questions