Distribution of mountain hares Lepus timidus in Scotland: results from a questionnaire

A questionnaire survey of land owners, managers and gamekeepers was conducted in order to assess the distribution of mountain hares in Scotland, assess their current management, collate numbers harvested in 2006–07 and estimate distribution change by comparing with similar data collected in 1995–96. The land area covered by returned questionnaires was 71098km 2 (90% of Scotland). Mountain hares were reported as present on 34359km 2 (48%) and absent from 36739km 2 (52%). Mountain hare presence was strongly associated with heather moorland managed for red grouse shooting. Moorland managed for driven grouse shooting had the highest percentage area of mountain hare presence (median 64%) followed by moorland managed for walked-up grouse shooting (median 9%) and moorland with no grouse shooting (median 0%). Approximately 25000 mountain hares were harvested in 2006–07. Based on the estimated UK population in 1995 of 350000 (range 50%), this represents around 7% of the population (range 5–14%). Reasons given by respondents for harvesting hares were tick control (50%), sport (40%) and forestry or crop protection (10%). Comparison of the estates surveyed in both 2006–07 and 1995–96 (a total area of 20462km 2 ) indicated no net gain or loss in hare distribution. Furthermore, there was no evidence that levels of harvest had reduced the range of mountain hares in this area. It is not possible to comment on any distribution change

[1]  N. Aebischer,et al.  Changes in breeding success and abundance of ground‐nesting moorland birds in relation to the experimental deployment of legal predator control , 2010 .

[2]  D. Stoddart,et al.  Mountain hare, Lepus timidus, bags and moor management , 2009 .

[3]  Tomas Willebrand,et al.  Unstable dynamics and population limitation in mountain hares , 2007, Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society.

[4]  D. Haydon,et al.  Do mountain hare populations cycle , 2007 .

[5]  Nancy Jennings,et al.  REVIEW: Questionnaires in ecology: a review of past use and recommendations for best practice , 2005 .

[6]  A. Møller,et al.  A survey of the statistical power of research in behavioral ecology and animal behavior , 2003 .

[7]  C. Thulin.  The distribution of mountain hares Lepus timidus in Europe: a challenge from brown hares L. europaeus? , 2003 .

[8]  A. Wightman,et al.  Who Owns Scotland , 1997 .

[9]  J. Reynolds,et al.  Control of mammalian predators in game management and conservation , 1996 .

[10]  J. Dover,et al.  Reduced pesticide inputs on cereal field margins: the effects on butterfly abundance , 1990 .

[11]  R. Raynor.  The conservation status and management of mountain hares , 2008 .

[12]  P. Hudson,et al.  Identifying disease reservoirs in complex systems: mountain hares as reservoirs of ticks and louping-ill virus, pathogens of red grouse , 2003 .

[13]  P. Whitfield,et al.  A conservation framework for the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) in Scotland , 2002 .

[14]  S. Harris,et al.  A Review of British Mammals: Population Estimates and Conservation Status of British Mammals Other Than Cetaceans , 1995 .

[15]  H. R. Arnold.  Atlas of mammals in Britain , 1993 .

[16]  D. Jenkins,et al.  Population densities of mountain hares compared with red grouse on Scottish moors , 1973 .