Mountains high
We’ve always had a lot of mountain hares. It’s a success story for us,” said Alex Jenkins, headkeeper on the 15,000-acre Edinglassie estate in Upper Donside, Aberdeenshire. Jenkins attributes the flourishing population to two main factors: good habitat and the predator control carried out as part of his grouse management. This tallies with the wider picture in North East Scotland, where in spite of their range shrinking nationally, mountain hare numbers are 35 times higher on driven grouse moors compared to unmanaged areas.
In particular, hares benefit from the new heather growth after managed burning. Muir-burn plays a vital role in the management of Edinglassie, which is a mix of dry heath and wetter moor at altitudes of up to 2,500ft. Controlled burning is an essential tool to rejuvenate heather moorland, huge swathes of which were lost after World War Two through commercial forestry and over-grazing. In Donside, entire moors were covered in non-native commercial plantations, which support little wildlife. The
