In recent years I have been making the annual trip up into the hills of North Wales to Worlds End and the legendary Black Grouse Lek that is there. I suppose, once you have seen it once then you have no real reason to return, but for a photographer, it’s different… It happens in the early spring from around March onwards, and on any given day you can turn up there and watch these beautiful male birds strutting around and occasionally attack one and other. It seems there is a lot more bravado than action, with a lot of chest puffing and tail cocking, with very little aggression, and the bare minimum contact.
For me, it’s a great photography opportunity and I love to keep an eye on the weather In late March, early April. If I am free, and the weather forecast is bright and sunny in Llangollen, then I will more than likely make the hours journey from Manchester. They are beautiful birds and great subjects, so when the light is right they can create magnificent photos. As mentioned, Black Grouse are a lekking bird and they are very site faithful for their leks. Somewhere around 30 birds gather in what looks like a small disused quarry. There is one particular shot that keeps drawing me back to these birds. I really want to get a photo of one on a very cold but bright morning, where you can see its breath rising. That is the shot I’m looking for and I won’t give up till I get it, although realistically, I will probably have to go to Scandinavia.
Anyway, in mid March a window of opportunity came around and I went for it. A bright morning, (yet not cold enough for breath shots) and a bit of free time had me there for 6am. I was shocked to find that there was nowhere to park even though I was there before sunrise. The lek site has enough room to park about 5 cars in the prime viewing area, and about 5 cars in not so great positions. Good enough to watch, but not good enough for decent photography. You really need to stay in your car, using it as a hide, as if anyone were to get out they would flush all the birds. To get mega shots you need to have the best seats, and I missed out on this one but still managed a few decent shots of the birds posturing up, and generally puffing their chests out.
Every now and then two birds would be drawn towards each other and have a bit of a fight. I say fight, but it’s more of a minor disagreement. The birds don’t seem to be too aggressive, and to this day I have never seen any injuries. Maybe someone else has? Let me know if so. But it makes for good photography, and the resulting pictures make the birds look far more angry than they actually are.
If you would like to visit there yourself then you can literally type World’s End into your Google Maps and it will take you to the rough area. Once you are there, it is pretty easy to find them as they are very conspicuous and don’t really care about cars.
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