Continuing my September project with the first avian entry, the capercaillie. From “Whittled Away”:
An oversized grouse of woodlands, the last record of which was from Thomastown, Co Kilkenny in 1760 but which was already very rare for some time.
This means we have lost one of the most spectacular mating rituals of any creature:
The Capercaillie also became extinct in Scotland, but has since been reintroduced in 1837 – one of the first examples I would guess of rewilding.
Séamus Sweeney 