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Capercaillie are doomed unless pine martens controlled claim





Gamekeepers want better control of pine martens in the strath
Gamekeepers want better control of pine martens in the strath

Scotland's gamekeepers have said they fear the iconic capercaillie is doomed unless conservationists advising government agencies get real to tackle pine marten predation in the strath.

Despite an assurance by First Minister Alex Salmond that caper would not be allowed to ‘die on his watch’, keepers fear a second extinction is perilously close.

While individual birds exist in fragmented pockets, the only remaining viable breeding population exists in Badenoch and Strathspey.

The Scottish Gamekeepers Association has said better weather this year is expected to show ‘fragile increases’ but gamekeepers expect those gains to be off-set by predation in the coming months.

The SGA said members of the Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) group for capercaillie have acknowledged the need for a trial removal of pine marten from core areas in the strath to assess the problem but so far, no research license has been granted.

Frustrated gamekeepers, represented on the group, fear conservationists are running scared of making the tough decisions required to prevent the bird becoming extinct.

The SGA’s Allan Hodgson, who sits on the BAP group, said: "There needs to be some hard decisions taken and some bravery from the government and those advising them when it comes to dealing with the pine marten issue.

"Unless advisors make the case that having an infinite number of predators and a finite number of prey in the remaining core area is unsustainable, the capercaillie will be lost.

"When it was suggested deer fences were the problem for capercaillie, they were removed quickly. When it was suggested habitat loss was the problem, lots of public money was ploughed into that.

"All of these things are important, as is weather, but it has taken those tasked with saving capercaillie far too long to act consistently on predation, despite warnings from practical land managers.

"It has been danced around for years at meetings because no one has been willing to get their hands dirty; fearful it may make them unpopular with their members."

Read what the RSPB and Scottish Natural Heritage think in the Strathy out next week.


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