The Cock-of-the-woods
A displaying male; Jonathan Kemp Less than 2 hours’ drive from the Aude is one of the ten most mountainous countries on the planet; the Principality of Andorra. Sandwiched between its’ neighbours of France and Spain, this tiny country is most visited for one of two reasons; skiing and shopping. Culturally it feels like Catalonia, but with certain differences; it is very affluent with a booming tourist industry, and the life expectancy is the second highest in the world. We were there for other reasons; it also has the highest density in the Pyrenees of a bird that I have never seen; the Capercaillie, or Grand Tétra in French. The English name, or rather the Scottish Gaelic, is a corruption of capal coille, ‘Ho...