Emergency plan to save the capercaillie bird launched as numbers plummet

Cairngorms national park drawing up plans as RSPB says latest survey shows population at critical level of 540

An emergency plan is being drawn up to save the capercaillie, one of the UK's most elusive and threatened woodland birds, after its numbers plunged.

The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds said the latest population survey found its estimated population had fallen from roughly 1,114 in 2015/16 to about 542 birds last winter, putting it at a critically low level.