A NEW plan has been hatched to return the iconic mountain hare to its former Scottish moorland home. Ecologists say numbers have been in decline since the 1950s with Scottish government figures suggesting about 26,000 hares are killed every year. Now gamekeepers are to have talks with a group behind the Langholm community buy-out with a plan to reintroduce hares to the moor to kick-start a recovery. Buccleuch Estates said in November that it would be selling just over 2,000 hectares (about 5,000 acres) of Langholm Moor for £3.8m to the local community, which plans to create a leading new nature reserve and community regeneration project.