NUMBERS of the threatened merlin – Britain’s smallest bird of prey – are soaring on grouse moors in Durham and Northumberland.

A new study, commissioned by the Moorland Association (MA), has found dramatic gains in merlin populations on heather moorlands managed by gamekeepers for wild red grouse, like the North Pennines.

Penny Anderson Associates, consultant ecologists, highlighted significant increases using British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) Atlas data.

The study assessed the distribution of breeding merlin in England. It found 78 per cent were on protected and conserved heather landscapes keepered for red grouse.

More importantly, it suggested numbers of breeding records had doubled on grouse moors in the last 20 years.

Robert Benson, MA chairman, said the threatened species had done exceptionally well on land looked after by keepers but were struggling in other upland areas, where breeding records had fallen by more than half in the same period.

The BTO data shows breeding records within ten kilometre squares, making it possible to establish that where there are gamekeepers, there are four times more merlin.

The results have been welcomed by MA members who manage more than 850,000 acres of heather-filled land that is rarer than rainforest.

Mr Benson was very pleased that proper moorland management had such a positive effect on merlin.

He said: “Plenty of heather to nest in, a ready food supply and the control of merlin’s natural predators are the winning combination of grouse moor management.

“These lovely birds of prey with square-cut tails and pointed wings are doing well on our members’ land, but numbers are becoming perilously low elsewhere.

“That the work of gamekeepers has been recognised by this valuable study is praise indeed for their huge efforts, particularly as the nesting season gets under way.”