It is with interest that the Game Conservancy Trust (GCT) has been monitoring the correspondence in The Herald with regard to grouse moors and the issues surrounding such. As a science-based organisation, the GCT deals in facts and is internationally recognised for its robust research.

Key findings from our Upland Predation Experiment (final data to be collected in spring next year) indicate that waders and meadow pipits show a tendency for greater breeding success on sites with predation control. Waders are regarded by many conservation bodies as a good barometer of upland biodiversity.

In 1995 and 1996 Andy Tharme of the RSPB, in collaboration with the GCT and grouse moor owners, conducted a series of breeding bird counts. Three of the four wader species sighted (golden plover, curlew and lapwing) were all much more abundant on grouse moors. Moors managed for grouse typically have five times as many golden plovers and lapwings as other nearby moors and about twice as many curlews. Ground nesting merlins also benefit from the fox control carried out by grouse keepers (Nature's gain 2005).

Beyond the moor, game-bird management has just as much success. A visit to the RSPB website, tells us: "Gamebird managers control predators to protect a shootable surplus. For the grey partridge and capercaillie, experiments have shown that it can also help maintain breeding numbers at a time when the population is declining for other reasons. Research on the grey partridge has shown that insect food availability for chicks is the main factor behind their decline. Predation of eggs, chicks and particularly incubating females can exacerbate the problem, however, such that legal predator control in conjunction with positive land management can help to restore a population."

While the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds understandably takes no formal position on grouse shooting per se, it does acknowledge the wider conservation benefits delivered by it. The GCT stands shoulder to shoulder with it against the illegal persecution of raptors.

For more information, a new leaflet issued within the last month by the Scottish Biodiversity Forum sets out a range of actions and land management procedures which, when incorporated into the normal management of sporting enterprises, can help deliver biodiversity benefits.

Katrina J Candy PR & Education (Scotland), The Game Conservancy Trust, Newtyle, Perthshire.