Europe threatens UK over capercaillie plight Balmoral's conservation

THE government is being threatened with legal action by the European Commission for failing to do enough to prevent one of Scotland's most famous birds from becoming extinct, according to documents leaked to the Sunday Herald.

The Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, has been told by the new European environment commissioner, Stavros Dimas, that the UK government's attempts to save the capercaillie are inadequate, unacceptable and illegal. Straw has to reply by February 22, and could then face court action.

One of the problem areas highlighted by Dimas is a wood on the Queen's Balmoral estate on Deeside. Known as Ballochbuie, he says it is "badly degraded" and contains vegetation "so rank" that it is unfit for capercaillie chicks.

Responsibility for protecting the capercaillie, the world's largest grouse, rests with the Scottish Executive and its conservation agency, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH).

Numbers in the Highlands have plummeted from 20,000 in the 1970s to 2000 in 2004.

The leaked documents include an eight-page legal letter from Dimas to Straw accusing Britain of breaking two European laws meant to protect endangered birds and habitats. Designated special protection areas (SPAs) for capercaillie are "small and fragmented", Dimas says, and the absence of any legally enforceable measures outside the areas is "of particular concern".

Less than 31-per cent of the known capercaillie population is contained in eight SPAs covering 70,000 hectares of Scotland.

According to Dimas this is "unacceptably low" and the areas should be expanded to include at least 60-per cent of the birds.

The government is also criticised for "failing to ensure that sufficient account is being taken of the capercaillie" by the Cairngorms National Park.

Planned housing and other developments could damage woodlands used by the birds, Dimas says.

The environment commissioner singles out two SPAs where action to protect capercaillie is "limited". Kinveachy Forest in the Spey Valley is "badly degraded as a result of [deer] overgrazing", he says.

Balmoral's Ballochbuie wood has also been damaged by deer eating the vegetation on which capercaillie depend for cover, he alleges. Fences erected to keep deer out of some areas have become a problem too, because the birds kill themselves by flying into them.

"The ground vegetation inside the fence is now getting so rank that it is becoming less suitable for capercaillie chicks, " Dimas adds.

The European Commission (EC) launched an investigation into the protection of capercaillie in Scotland after a complaint was lodged in 2000 by Robert Moss, a wildlife biologist at the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology in Banchory, Aberdeenshire. The EC first wrote to the UK government in October 2001, suggesting environmental law was being breached.

In response, the Executive and SNH removed or marked fencing that was putting capercaillie at risk and promised to designate three more SPAs. But the new letter from Dimas makes clear that this has not been enough to dispel the risk of being dragged before the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg, and fined millions of pounds.

"I'm glad the EC is keeping up the pressure because in the past year there have been signs that SNH and other government bodies are showing less interest in capercaillie, " said Moss.

Developments planned in the Cairngorms National Park were a threat to the birds, he claimed. He was backed by Gus Jones, a capercaillie expert from the Badenoch and Strathspey Conservation Group, who described proposed developments as "a scandal".

The Cairngorms National Park Authority pointed out that some developments had been rejected and others were still being considered. "We have to act within national guidelines which protect species like the capercaillie, " said a spokesman.

Balmoral Estate did not respond to questions from the Sunday Herald. The Executive also declined to comment on "confidential" correspondence.

But an Executive spokesman said that the most recent survey had shown an 85-per cent increase in capercaillie numbers between 1999 and 2004. The Executive helps fund a pounds-5 million EC project to conserve capercaillie, and has provided pounds-770,000 to mark or remove fences. Ministers are said to be "fully committed" to meeting their obligations under European law, and the Executive is in discussion with the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds about further measures.

According to SNH, the latest survey suggested that the rapid decline of the capercaillie had been halted."While it is too early to say whether this is a long-term trend, it has been a very encouraging result, " said a spokeswoman.

rob.edwards@sundayherald. com

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