And we thought we had heard it all when the Under Secretary for State in England Richard Benyon proposed controlling buzzards. The fact that control of sea eagles is even being discussed will appaul a huge number of people, not only throughout the UK but across the world, what on earth are we thinking about, lets get a grip of this stupidity now and stop it in its tracks?
Sea-Eagles could in theory be shot legally by farmers – if they can gather enough evidence to prove eagles are significantly damaging livestock, according to Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH).
The impact of birds of prey in general and sea eagles in particular has been felt by farmers throughout Scotland with those on the Island of Mull suffering most. Farmer Bert Leitch told a meeting of the Mull Community Council: ‘As the number of sea eagles get greater the number of lambs are reduced. All these birds are protected, but SNH now accept that if we have evidence we can apply for a licence to shoot them.’
Ron Macdonald, head of policy atSNH, said the ‘bar would be very high’ for anyone making such an application for a licence.
Asked what evidence would be required to back up a licence application, he said that post mortems confirming lambs had been taken alive by sea eagles would be necessary but Mr Macdonald did not know how many would be required. He admitted that ‘lambs are taken both dead and occasionally alive.’
When questioned if a farmer applying for a licence with proof they had lost a lot of lambs to eagles be granted it he said:’ We would look at the issue as to whether there are alternative solutions available, creating hill parks with sweeter grass and stopping stock from ranging too widely. This wouldn’t stop eagles but it would make the management and shepherding of stock easier, Sea eagles are less afraid of humans than golden eagles but the presence of humans tends to make them very wary.’
Mr Macdonald also suggested that funding could be provided for lambing sheds from capital works scheme which was launched in 2011 and is open for applications until autumn 2013.
A lot of this is about trying to minimise the effect of the eagles, but people have a right to apply for a licence,’ said Mr Macdonald.
‘We thought we had been making progress with this, we can fully understand that people are concerned and think it is hard enough to farm without having to face losses due to birds of prey.’
Tim Barnes from Rhemore , Drimnin,Morvern said: ‘From the point of view of hill farmers in this area, the control of sea eagles is a necessity. If the average 80% lambing is reduced by sea eagle predation, even a relatively small number of lambs lost can push a flock to the tipping point of 70% where a spiralling decline in the quality of the ewe flock is reached.
‘SNH and the RSPB employed people to study eagles’ predation of lambs on Mull in 2003 and appear to have come up with less than robust conclusions which they are reticent about substantiating.’
RSPB Mull Officer Dave Sexton said: ‘Personally speaking, if such a licence was ever issued I believe the British public would view it as a very dark day for Scotland on the world environment stage. Golden eagles, regarded by many as Scotland’s national bird and white-tailed eagles only slowly recolonising their native land are both still regular victims of illegal persecution.
Footnote.
Certainly the Norwegian Government who supplied all the donor eagles for the Scottish reintroduction scheme will now be feeling betrayed and bewildered by this talk. We doubt if any more sea eagles will be supplied to Scotland in the foreseeable future. It also places the reintroduction of sea eagles into England very much in jeopardy. If in the unlikely event any licenses to kill the sea eagle are granted Scotland’s green image will be damaged beyond repair. We also support what Dave Sexton has already stated, the British public will have something to say about any licenses granted to cull sea eagles, and rightly so.
With conservation slipping down the agenda, SNH becoming an organisation without purpose and the torys in power- its hardly surprising that the cavemen feel empowered.
One of today’s problems lye in that subside in the form of £3 billion a year paid directly to farms and estates and not to the wider community. By paying the wider community this money instead, it would then go to encourage wildlife tourism as well. The Community could then tackle land management which as we know for Scotland and most of our uplands is totally over grazed by sheep [and deer for Scotland]. The reason some birds find it hard to find food is due to this over grazing.
I don’t understand what you are saying. How can the community tackle land management when the land is owned by farms and estates.
With this kind of double-speak from SNH, no wonder the farmers are bewildered. SNH come clean. How can they possibly support the control of an animal they helped introduce. I can’t actually believe it is even being discussed.
Succesive studies have shown that these eagles take few if any live lambs. There is obviously another agenda at play here.
Editor’s Comment. Hi Jimmy, thanks for the comment. Yes there is another agenda, its called ignorance and a total lack of appreciation for the wonders of the natural world we all share. There will always be those within our society that would return us to the Victorian era. In Poland at the current time there are now over 1000 pairs of white-tailed eagles. Much of the farming in that country is undertaken in the old fashion way, a few pigs, ducks, hens and perhaps sheep, all managed by the rural farmer helped by his growing family close to the forest. I have even seen occupied sea eagle nests containing young located 300 m from a village with no thought of persecuting these magnificent raptors. We as a country have much to learn from our European partners, how sad some people really are.
But the communities would own the purse.
Completely agree with John. The estates control the farmers who are scared to step out of line, pressure from the shooting fraternities publicity band wagon provokes this type of hype. This government does not give a jot about the countrysdie except for shooting and agriculture (the two big problems for wildbird declines).
Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t something like this appear in the press a couple of years ago. I seem to remember a crofter claiming that an eagle had taken upto 50 or more lambs in one season. I’m sure I read that when the RSPB tagged all his lambs the following year not a single one was taken ?
Editor’s Comment. Mark you are right, after an investigation had been undertaken the lamb take was insignificant. Scotsmen across the world are known to exaggerate, especially if money was a motive. Give a Scotsman an inch he will take a mile.
The last time we had healthy populations of raptors (from eagles-ravens) the stock on the hills was actually looked after. By that I mean that there were a couple of boys sent out with the stock to guard them and to move them around the grazing. The “eradication of the problem” along with the other societal and agricultural changes (its more likely that the stock would be cattle rather than sheep)changes etc simply mean that this is not viable in any shape or form. Farmers simply abandon the sheep onto the hill and leave them to fend for themselves. They maybe get looked at once a week and the licks might get topped up and (with the exception of the gathering and lambing) thats about it.
Its little wonder that lambs seem to go missing…and they need to find a scapegoat.
Editor’s Comment. Isn’t cattle rustling still practiced in the Western Isles?
The chances of SNH actually issuing such a licence is slim to none. However, with the change of strategic direction, anything is possible in order to avoid rocking the political boat.
Current research already confirms that, although sea eagles do take lambs (probably more than we think!), they have a minimum impact on overall stock numbers and financial viability – if the later even applies to a heavily subsidised industry such as hill farming? The fact farmers put sheep out on the hills for extended periods of time to fend for themselves and accept any losses demonstrates nothing but hypocrisy as well as disdain for native wildlife amongst some sections of the farming community. However, to be fair, sea eagles are probably an easy target to vent their general frustrations.
Also, I am curious why Farmers want to kill these magnificent birds rather than seek a compromise e.g. greater government support for pro-active management … or is this a hangover from the ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ mentality that still seems to plague farmers and other land managers? Or do they just hate SNH?
The good news is the overall benefit that these birds bring to Scotland FAR outweigh any prejudiced drawbacks that may exist. Long may this continue!
FYI – the weekly Scottish Farmer magazine appears to be partaking in a Daily Mail esq hysteria/hate campaign against Sea Eagles. I have not figured out their motives, but I do have concerns where this is all leading… If this rag speaks for farmers across Scotland I cannot think of a greater disconnect between farming and popular public opinion. It does them no favours whatsoever.
Editor’s Comment. John the points you make are very valid and explain much, much appreciated thank you.
From the same rag: http://www.thescottishfarmer.co.uk/news/sea-eagles-enough-is-enough.17811869
The pull out bit reminds me of the episode from Father Ted about the stolen whistle!!
When a healthy lamb is taken by a Raptor and proven, is the farmer compensated? Or is he already subsidised for his losses?
A big pout I feel being missed here is that farmers are only paid subsides because nobody wants to lay for food, they would simply go out of business otherwise, if production costs are greater than farm gate prices. Which they are, so no farmer wants subsides they would much rather farm with greater gate prices, and as for land being over grazed what a load of tosh! I know a very good farming block of around 6500 acres which has been ruined by the RSPB! There’s no sheep there now the land doesn’t look managed it looks like a wild jungle! The land only looks the way it does because it’s managed! It’s not naturally like that! And the way the population is growing and framers are decreasing tourism will become far secondary to agriculture when there’s no food on your plates!! It came from a farm before Tesco or Asda!
The sooner you do gooders realise that the better off everyone will be!! And as far as birds of prey go, we used to have 12 different types of garden birds visit our feeder in the garden after an introduction in my area of birds of prey we now only see 3-4 different types of garden birds and I know which I’d rather see! And we have very little tourism form them!!
Editor’s Comment, Farmer, regarding your last comment, loss of Garden Birds. These losses/reductions are not down to the reintroduction of birds of prey. We presume you must mean white-tailed eagles and the red kites. Eagles do not predate upon garden birds and red kites are carrion feeders. The most likely cause for these reductions is agricultural practices and use of chemical pesticides, of course climate change and habitat loss will also play important parts in this scenario. Your location is not alone in these garden bird losses, its taking place all over the UK?
Oh dear oh dear oh dear! Yet another nutcase tries his best to dissolve any remaining public sympathy for his industry. I congratulate “farmer” on a dazzling display of ignorance and bigotry.