Video footage has shown an elaborate mating ritual between two endangered black grouse competing for female attention at a military shooting range.

The firing range at Garelochhead Training Centre, Argyll and Bute, has been a magnet for birds attracted to the short grassland where they fight with one another – known as a “lek” – in a bid to get the attention of females watching in long grassland.

Owned by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), the centre and surrounding uplands provided a habitat for the striking birds, which have distinctive red eyebrows and white under-tail feathers and make a “rookooing” sound during the mating ritual, which happens at dusk and at dawn.

    • GreyShuckOPM
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      8 months ago

      The top image is the video - but it seems that quite a few adblockers block access.