CONSERVATIONISTS are being accused of ignoring the impact of the pine marten in their plans to save the capercaillie.

CONSERVATIONISTS are being accused of ignoring the impact of the pine marten in their plans to save the capercaillie.

The Cairngorms National Park is preparing to endorse the next phase of a plan to save the bird, which is the largest grouse in the world. There are said to be only 1,200 of the birds left, compared with an estimated 20,000 some 40 years ago.

However, gamekeepers say there could be as few as 400 of the birds left in Scotland and they have criticised the conservationists' plans to tackle the capercaillie population without looking at one of their predators, the pine marten - another protected species.

The Cairngorms National Park is thought to be home to at least 80 per cent of Scotland's capercaillie.

Justin Prigmore, the park authority's Capercaillie Framework Project Manager, said: "The main focus is Strathspey in the park. It is only place where we know the birds are at least stable or possibly increasing. But it is a bit early for champagne corks."

He said it was vitally important for this stronghold to be secured and for it to grow so that it can start expanding into neighbouring areas.

But a Scottish Gamekeepers Association spokesman said: "The inability of conservationists to grasp the nettle on this is like a group of people trying to rescue their dinner while the house is on fire.

"Our understanding, from speaking to workers on the ground is that the numbers (of capercaillie) may be as low as 400. On 20 video monitored nests in Abernethy Forest, 65 per cent of nests were found to be predated, 57 per cent of those by pine marten."

He said it was common sense to proceed with a trial to translocate pine marten from a small core area to monitor such predation.

Mr Prigmore said he was confident the capercaillie figure was not nearly as low as 400 and he disputed the claim that the impact of the pine marten was being ignored.

A spokesman for Scottish Natural Heritage said it was working with the Game and Wildlife Conservation exploring a joint research project also involving Forestry Commission Scotland and the Cairngorms National Park Authority.

There was a lot of work to be done before any proposals for removing pine martens could be considered, he said. .

"The potential role of pine marten must be understood and separated from other impacts on capercaillie, such as weather patterns and other predator effects, " he said.