ScottishPower Renewables is desperately seeking to reintroduce a population of mountain hares at its Beinn an Tuirc windfarm site in Argyll & Bute – so much so that it is offering local estates a bounty of around £30 for every hare it can provide.

The “Easter Bunnies” will form part of an on-going conservation and regeneration project that has been in operation at the Beinn an Tuirc site since it opened in 2001. The 46 turbine windfarm site covers 1215 hectares and includes 450 hectares of conifer plantation and regenerated traditional heather moorland which was created to enhance red grouse numbers.

The regenerated site also boasts a pair of nesting Golden Eagles and a healthy population of black grouse.

David Macarthur, Ecologist at ScottishPower Renewables, said: “We have been looking to reintroduce hares at the Beinn an Tuirc site for a while now, and were so keen to get them in at Easter time for the start of breeding season, that we decided to offer a bounty payment to local estates for every hare they can provide.

“Hares haven’t populated this part of the land for a number of decades, but we see them as an important part of our on-going commitment to develop a sustainable ecological environment at the windfarm site.  We have a commitment at all our windfarm sites to protect and enhance the local habitat.”

ScottishPower Renewables is looking to release around 30 mountain hares on the site and hope that by next Easter there will be a burgeoning mountain hare population at Beinn an Tuirc.

Media information: Simon McMillan 0141 566 4875/ 07753 622 257