Black grouse wander on the fell

Chapel Fell, Weardale The male's black and white plumage is striking, but at close range a greyhen is captivatingly beautiful

Every autumn, for the past four years, I've seen black grouse (Tetrao tetrix) here. Always single birds, most likely wanderers from the lek at Langdon Beck in Teesdale, just a few miles south.

This morning there were six - four males and two females, in a sheltered hollow in rough pasture, halfway down the fellside. In the distance they could have been mistaken for large free-range chickens, but just a glance through binoculars revealed the distinctive profile and plumage of the male black grouse, striking even in autumn.