On pine martens

David Hogg (Letters, 30 September) is right to say RSPB Scotland does not support the removal of pine martens to help save the Scottish capercaillie population, but wrong to criticise us and Scottish Natural Heritage for this approach. We are fully committed to the future of the capercaillie.

More careful scrutiny of the scientific facts indicates that good June weather is critical for our capercaillie population to thrive, and we have had a number of bad summers recently. As expected, the fine summer of 2013 has been a good year for capercaillie productivity in many Scottish forests.

There are parts of the capercaillie range where other proven 
actions to benefit the species still require effective implementation. These measures include a reduction in deer populations to improve habitats damaged by overgrazing; removal of deer fencing in woodland, which kills capercaillie; a reduction in human disturbance at sensitive times of the year; and legal fox and crow control.

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The situation is worst on Deeside, but pine martens are at a lower density there than in Strathspey. Conversely, many of the management actions required have not been fully implemented on Deeside. We need to pull together to address this urgently.

Our research shows pine martens are a predator of capercaillie nests at Abernethy Forest, but at a lower level than figures issued recently by the Scottish Gamekeepers’ Association. European studies show similar results to our own.

We do not think a trapping and relocation programme for pine martens is either a practical or a long-term solution, as many pine martens would need to be regularly removed to have any discernible beneficial impact on the capercaillie population.

Where would these protected mammals be removed to? Surely a sustainable solution is needed with cheaper and less interventionist measures deployed fully before contemplating pine 
marten removal. The Scottish pine marten population is itself only just recovering from a legacy of human killing and it, like the capercaillie, is a native and part of our forest heritage.

Stuart Housden

RSPB Scotland

Edinburgh

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