Wild grey partridges have returned to the Tomatin moors in the Scottish Highlands for the first time in 20 years – after bantam hens were used as surrogate egg-sitters.

Grey partridges died out on the Tomatin moors in the late 1990s, but in 2011 gamekeepers started a recovery programme.

Grey partridge eggs were sent up from an estate in England, and after several attempts the first eggs were successfully reared under bantam hens, with the help and expertise of a local poultry keeper with many years’ experience of bantams.