Distribution of mountain hares Lepus timidus in Scotland in 2016/2017 and changes relative to earlier surveys in 1995/1996 and 2006/2007

Mountain hares Lepus timidus, incorporating the subspecies L. t. varronis, L. t. hibernicus and L. t. scoticus, have declined in range throughout continental Europe where they face pressures from climate-change, competition and land-management. In Scotland, the absence of a national monitoring scheme, including mandatory reporting of hunting records, means that producing robust estimates of mountain hare population trends is difficult. We...