Data from the Cairngorms national park captures the positive impact of ecological restoration work
A new report released by an organisation that works to rehabilitate some of Scotland’s most precious landscapes suggests that its efforts are bearing fruit, in line with a promising national trend.
WildLand Cairngorms covers around half of the area that’s under the Cairngorms Connect partnership area – some 600km2 of land in total. Cairngorms Connect is a partnership of neighbouring land managers working towards a 200-year vision to improve habitat, species and ecological process.
Since 2019, WildLand Cairngorms has been working on a tagging and monitoring initiative for hen harriers, golden eagles and goshawk on their estates in the park.
Its latest report follows the stories of young birds of prey as they navigate the Highlands and details the positive impact that restoration work has had on native raptors in the region. During 2022 and 2023 the team recorded a 100% survival rate for its hen harrier nests. The golden eagle has also increased in numbers in the region – from four breeding pairs in 2021 to seven in 2023. And 2021 saw two pairs of goshawk, previously persecuted to extinction in the UK, breed successfully on WildLand for the first time.
Over the past five years, experts have been able to track the movements of the raptors, boosting understanding of their movements, threats and what is needed to support their long-term thriving. Data has revealed the birds to have travelled extensively across the Highlands, with some golden eagles being tracked as far as the Inner Hebrides.
These two survey figures give us hope that things are changing on a national scale
Ronan Dugan, a field ecologist at WildLand Limited, said the results of the tagging and monitoring programmes had proved “incredibly useful”.
“For example, we observed the hen harrier most frequently nests on our regenerating native moorland,” he explained. “This is encouraging as we know as conditions improve, we will have ample and more resilient habitat for them in the future.”
Dugan said the expansion of native woodland in the Cairngorms had been extremely important for the return of the goshawk and the prey on which the birds depend. “An elusive predator of the forest and open spaces, we are very grateful to have goshawk back breeding in the landscape,” he said, “adding to the important predator prey balance in a rapidly regenerating large scale conservation area”.
The most recent national survey of golden eagles in Scotland found there were 508 breeding pairs in 2015, an increase of 15% since the previous national survey in 2003. The last national survey of hen harriers was in 2023 and found there to be 529 pairs breeding in Scotland – up 15% on the previous national survey in 2016.
“These two survey figures give us hope that things are changing on a national scale,” noted Dugan.
A golden opportunity
WildLand Cairngorms has also been working with bodies outside of the region to bolster golden eagle numbers. Once widespread throughout southern Scotland, only a handful of breeding pairs remain in the region. With little breeding success and limited movement between the main Scottish population of eagles, in 2021 WildLand Cairngorms helped to bring about the translocation of a single golden eagle chick to reinforce the southern population. It came from a pair of golden eagles within the WildLand Cairngorms region that had been very productive in recent years, hatching twins for four consecutive years.
Dugan said: “We are delighted to hear that the chick is doing well in its new home and hope it will have a long and productive life.”
It is a landscape full of hope – hope that one day we can reverse the trend of loss and spark a positive future for Scotland’s wild places
WildLand Cairngorm encompasses Gaick, Glenfeshie, Killiehuntly and Kinrara. Dugan said the land was in the process of healing itself after centuries of degradation and deforestation. “It is a landscape full of hope – hope that one day we can reverse the trend of loss and spark a positive future for Scotland’s wild places,” he said.
Photography: Ronan Dugan and WildLand Limited Conservation Assistant
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