TWENTY-FIVE YEARS AGO Friday March 29 1996

Farmers call for goose scheme

Kintyre farmers look set to call for a compensation scheme for damage done by rare Greenland white-fronted geese. A compensation scheme already exists on Islay.

Last year, farmers on Islay received an average pay-out of around £1,700 to compensate for damage done by the geese. The geese are a protected species and there are only 27,000 of them in the world.

A joint survey by Scottish Natural Heritage and the Kintyre branch of the National Farmers Union of Scotland revealed the geese were becoming more of a problem for farmers.

The survey, based on farms in the Laggan and Tayinloan areas during the winter of 1994-5 revealed that goose numbers had risen to around 2,500. In 1984-5 the figure was closer to 1,400.

It is said that damaged varied from ‘localised root pulling’ to heavy grazing of root crops and pasture. Geese were also blamed for creating large puddles.

The report suggests that one reason for geese becoming an increasing problem was the fact that they were being attracted by improved grazing work done by the farmers.

The president of the Kintyre branch of the NFUS, Rory Collville, said the survey backed the case for a compensation scheme. The branch is due to discuss the survey next month.

He told the Courier: ‘Two-and-a-halfthousand birds may not sound like much.

‘But if you were a farmer with that number in your field you’d want compensation for the damage they cause. Where they are a problem, they are a serious problem.’