Ecologists are beginning their autumn survey of voles in the Cairngorms Connect project area, which covers over 60,000 hectares of the national park and aims to restore its habitats, species and ecological processes.
Every spring and autumn, Forestry and Land Scotland collaborates with Cairngorms Connect Predator Project partners to carry out surveys to estimate the number of short-tailed field voles, bank voles and wood mice present in their Cairngorm forests.
Kenny Kortland, wildlife ecologist for FLS and lead on the Cairngorms Connect Predator Project, said: “We’re particularly interested in the abundance of field voles, which could be described as the most important species in the Cairngorms ecosystem. They have a huge influence on the system, as they are the main food of carnivores such as pine martens and foxes, which are the main predators of rare species like capercaillie. We survey voles in spring and autumn because we want to know how abundant they are during the breeding season of other species, such as capercaillie. Field vole populations go up and down in a regular cycle, over the course of a few years. When vole numbers are low, the predators will switch to other food sources. Recent work in this area* has shown that pine martens will switch to shrews and small birds, while foxes will switch to deer carrion and, believe it or not, dog poo. Both foxes and pine martens will also eat small numbers of protected species, such as capercaillie, and by understanding the vole cycle, as well as the ecology of the predators, we can manage and protect the rare species more effectively. When vole numbers are high, we probably don’t need to do much, but when vole numbers are low, we may have to act to reduce capercaillie predation. For example, by providing extra food to divert predators away from capercaillie.”
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Posted On: 11/10/2023