Funds secured for Cairngorms capercaillie conservation

Capercaillie are the world's largest grouse

Efforts to boost numbers of one of the UK's rarest birds in its Highlands stronghold has received £2m in funding.

There are estimated to be fewer than 1,000 capercaillie, all of them in Scotland. About 80% are found in Strathspey in the Cairngorms.

Habitat loss and fatal collisions with deer fences has reduced their numbers.

The Cairngorms Capercaillie Project will use the money from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to set up community-led conservation schemes.

Carrbridge, south of Inverness, is already piloting a community project.

It involves improving capercaillie habitat in pinewoods, raising awareness about how to avoid disturbing the birds and marking deer fences to make them more visible.

Capercaillie are the largest grouse species in the world and have been living in Scotland's pine forests since the last Ice Age.