MORVERN
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Fuel in them thar hills
LAST week I was lamenting the loss of many of our favourite moorland and coastal birds.
I wish I could say the same about bracken. I have never seen it so prolific in Argyll, and Morvern is no exception.
The decline in cattle grazing on the hill in the past century, combined with an increase in the sheep population and the almost discontinuation of traditional muirburn, has been largely responsible.
Bracken is on the march; a single study shows that in one five-year period it had taken more than 10,000 acres – that’s more than a good-sized estate or farm. Bracken is poisonous to cattle and horses and harbours ticks which carry the life-threatening Lyme disease.
More worrying, it is the source of ptaquiloside, a cancer-inducing toxin that ends up in drinking water, much of which comes from areas surrounded by the plant.
Because of the proven health issues, walkers, ramblers and local residents are calling for the millions of pounds currently being channelled by the Scottish Government into rhododendron clearance and new sitka spruce plantings in the Highlands to be put aside in favour of bracken control.
There is good anecdotal evidence to suggest that until the early 1900s, bracken was almost rare in Morvern as it was often imported by boat from Ardnamurchan to Drimnin as winter bedding for cattle – an unwitting act which is no doubt why it is so prolific in Morvern today.
The spread of bracken is a direct result of hill-sheep farming practice and occurring on steep slopes inaccessible to machine and uneconomic to cut manually.
Help, however, could be at hand and what is clearly a problem, may become a lucrative resource. A feasibility study carried out in mid-Wales by Oakland Biofuels, a southern English-based company, is looking to produce cellulosic ethanol – an alternative fuel – using bracken. The facility will be the first of its kind in Europe.
Jeremy Oakley, project director of Oakland Biofuels, says the company has been looking for alternative uses for bracken for a long time, with the main focus being on renewable energy. He said: ‘Bracken has been the scourge of most hill and upland farmers for many years and is rapidly becoming out of control as its growing area increases year on year.’
Oakland Biofuels solved the problem of harvesting the bracken, which often grows on difficult and hardto-reach terrain, by sourcing lightweight machines from Europe. These machines do not damage the environment as tractors do, can operate in wet and damp environments and may, Oakley hopes, help improve the sustainability of upland farming. The pioneering equipment has proved 90 per cent effective in being able to cut stands of more than six feet high on slopes up to 60 degrees. It can also be controlled remotely, for added operator safety.
Last year Oakland Biofuels organised working demonstrations throughout the UK not only to promote the technology but to show what opportunities could be created for younger people in rural areas to become contract bracken cutters for the benefit of their communities or neighbours and for smaller energy projects such as biomass pellet production.
Oakley said: ‘ With access to specialist equipment, it might also be possible to provide employment in the bio-pharmaceuticals and bio- composites industries. Another avenue could be bio-butanol, which is a direct replacement for petrol and is currently being researched as jet fuel in the USA.’
Dry bracken can have a higher calorific value than hardwood. Being able to manage and control it and other soft biomass throughout the UK could bring many benefits to Argyll. It is surely not beyond the wit of man these days to produce machines which can be used to crop this fern on steep, rocky crofts and small holdings as well as large sweeping hill slopes.
Dangerous re-wilding
I WAS amazed to hear the much talked about scheme to reintroduce wild animals that are no longer naturally found in the Highlands and islands is still being considered by Scottish Natural Heritage and other conservation groups. High on the list are lynx.
Are none of the organisations behind this fringe scheme aware of the expense and worry that a lynx, which escaped from Dartmouth zoo a few weeks ago, is creating in the south of England?
Last week it was reported in the national press that a police helicopter, a thermal imaging drone and several dozen marksmen armed with tranquilliser guns, were searching for it.
Children at a nearby nursery school were kept indoors after the lynx escaped and locals were warned not to approach the predator if they saw it.
If one of these big cats is released into the Argyll countryside, regardless of its perceived remoteness, what will the effect be on our remaining wildlife such as young red and roe, blackgame, woodcock and the rare Scottish wildcat, of which there are supposed to be fewer than 20 in existence? Calves, sheep, lambs, ducks and hens and many other species would also be at risk.
It is high time common sense prevailed and the rewilding scheme abandoned. MPs and MSPs take note.