Mountain hare 'saved by grouse moor'

11th April

By Jody Harrison  @jodeharrisonHTReporter

UPDATED

Hare today, not gone tomorrow.

THEIR numbers were throught to be dwindling, victims of a changing landscape and the heavy hand of man.

But now fresh analyses has suggested that Scotland's mountain hares are thriving  - especially wild areas where human activity is at its most intensive.

A study undertaken by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT) has found that grouse moor, and the efforts taken by shooting estates to preserve their land, are a "net benefit" to hare populations.

The mountain hare is the UK’s only native hare and was listed as Near Threatened in a recent review by the Mammal Society indicating that the species is of conservation concern in the UK.

The report examined mountain hare counts during a 16-year period from 2001 to 2017, during the spring across Highland, Grampian and Tayside. 

It found that populations of the elusive mammals was "significantly higher" on driven grouse moors than on unmanaged areas or moors managed for "walked-up" shooting.

However, the GWCT data flies in the face of research released last year by the Dr Adam Watson, of the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology and RSPB Scotland which said that between 1999 and 2017 hare numbers dropped by more than 30 per cent each year - with some counts finding fewer than one per cent of the original levels spotted in 1954.

Continued