SOA/Scottish Capercaillie Group Agreement revised for 2019-2020

A revised Agreement between the Scottish Orienteering Association and the Scottish Capercaillie Group on the use of forests for orienteering competitions and training where capercaillie are present is now available.

Molly Doubleday is the new Capercaillie Advisory Officer based at the RSPB offices in Inverness.  Maps detailing active leks and brood habitats for Deeside/Aberdeenshire, Moray, Easter Ross, Perthshire and Strathspey are held by the Events Manager.  Areas do change so if organising an event that may be subject to capercaillie restrictions please make contact with the Events Manager in the first instance. The Agreement does not advise a blanket ban on orienteering in capercaillie woods.

A new project called the Cairngorms Capercaillie Project has recently started with support from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The Cairngorms National Park has the last viable populations of the bird with the Badenoch & Strathspey area being particularly significant. With that in mind, the village of Carrbridge has been chosen as a pilot community where they will have a major say on key elements of the project, helping to work up practical ideas that can be tried and tested with successful initiatives being replicated throughout the National Park in the future.

The five year project will be focusing on two main areas; providing suitable, improved habitat for capercaillie and involving the public in the future survival of the species. Healthy habitats are extremely important with enhanced pine forests and better connectivity, but what will be key to the project’s success is how capercaillie and people can live together.

Emma Rawling has been appointed as the Carrbridge Community Ranger.

You can download the revised agreement here: