A FEW years ago, the black grouse looked to be down and out - now a conservation scheme has produced signs of a comeback.

The moorland rarity is still one of the fastest declining bird species in England, but a project in the North Pennines has seen numbers stabilise and even increase at some sites.

Latest figures show that there are about 800 male black grouse in uplands stretching from Wensleydale in the Yorkshire Dales to Northumbria.

And the past four years has seen numbers increase by an average of seven per cent a year at ten specially-managed sites.

David Baines, head of grouse research for the Game Conservancy Trust, said: "At some sites we have been able to demonstrate that good management has resulted in local increases in numbers.

"Overall, the pattern is still down but in the North Pennines we have done reasonably well."

Management schemes have seen the trust work with farmers to cut the number of sheep grazing on the uplands over the winter, to try and protect the heather.

"What our research has found is that by reducing the number of sheep on the ground, it increases the amount of taller vegetation, which provides cover and structure for nesting," Mr Baines said.

"There are also a lot more insects that the chicks can feed on, so the birds have survived better."

Destruction of their habitats and attacks by predators, such as foxes and crows, have affected the numbers of black grouse.

Another survey of the birds will be carried out next spring, but Mr Baines said that it could be several years before numbers start to increase on a significant scale.

"We have to stop the decline before we start to increase, and we hope that by 2005 we will have managed to maintain numbers at 1996 levels," he said