AS part of the project group established to increase recording of mountain hare presence right across Scotland, the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust is dismayed that following the first year of this expanded survey capacity, The National has hailed this as marking an increase in mountain hare numbers following protection (“Mountain hare numbers increase after gaining protection”, May 2).
This is highly misleading, and your headline and the minister in her quotes have expressed conclusions which will take regular monitoring and science much longer than one year to establish.
The Trust is committed to understanding the conservation status of the mountain hare both within its core range on managed moorland in the central Highlands and in other parts of Scotland. Until the establishment of the citizen-science survey approach overseen by the project group, structured surveying of mountain hares was being undertaken by gamekeepers, initially during daytime-only counts, and since 2018, by NatureScot-approved night-time counting methodology. As mountain hares are more active at night, it made sense to carry out transect counts using this technique.
READ MORE: Scottish school pupils plant thousands of trees across the country
To extend counting to other areas such as west Highland Scotland where the terrain and safety considerations do not lend themselves to night-time counts, a different approach was required. It is important that surveying in these other areas takes place, as what is occurring at the limits of the hare’s range can provide an indication as to overall conservation status. That is a key reason why the daytime citizen-science counting project, equipping hill-walkers and ramblers with a simple means of recording mountain hare sighting, was set up.
It is significant that this increased survey capacity is now up and running, but equally important for everyone to understand that whilst we now have more mountain hare records, this does not mean that hare numbers are necessarily increasing everywhere. We must continue to monitor numbers regularly in order to understand what is really happening. Range shrinkage – for instance as a result of changes in land use away from open moorland to forestry – is a particular concern that we need to consider. It is therefore unfortunate that the increase in counting effort was reported by The National and apparently endorsed by the Scottish Government as an indication that hare numbers were increasing following protection when this simply cannot be concluded at this very early stage in the process.
Ross MacLeod
Head of Policy (Scotland), Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust
WHY is the UK Government considering Scottish inter-island tunnels? Xander Richard’s article in The National on Tuesday reveals that Scottish Office minister Iain Stewart has been on a fact-finding mission to Faroe, although this is a devolved matter that has not yet been discussed with the Scottish Government (Scottish island tunnels ‘worth considering’, May 31).
The tunnels in Faroe are financed by a combination of loans and tolls, roughly equivalent to the cost of building a new ferry and fares, that pay for the tunnel in 15 to 20 years.
There is no reason why the Scottish Government could not build these tunnels if it had similar borrowing powers to the Faroese government.
However, if the UK Government is contemplating having City financiers and private industry construct these tunnels similar to the PFI hospitals, schools and other buildings, then the project would become yet another cash cow for its friends and a burden on the people of Scotland.
John Jamieson
South Queensferry
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here