RESEARCH has revealed the future is finally looking better for a rare game bird - although it is still suffering mixed fortunes in the north of England.

Black grouse suffered a devastating decline in their population last year - but the beleaguered upland birds are fighting back.

Early morning spring counts by researchers from the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust show the iconic creature is gaining strength in its North Pennines and Yorkshire Dales stronghold.

Encouraging estimates show that the 2010 population of just 500 males has jumped to 820 this spring - but elsewhere the news is grim.

For in north-west Northumberland their numbers have collapsed from 100 males in 2002 to just six this spring - and they are now facing imminent extinction in the area.

Overall the Trust welcomed the figures as “fantastic” and described them as a credit to the huge amount of conservation work carried out over the last 15 years.

However the Trust’s black grouse project officer, Fran Atterton, admitted further work was still necessary to safeguard the bird for the future.

She added: “We have recently launched a ‘Woodlands for black grouse’ project funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund, to encourage landowners to establish small pockets of woodland to provide an emergency food source and cover in severe winters.”