Action needed to stop lamb deaths
Urgent action is needed to stop lambs being killed by a growing population of white-tailed eagles.
Farmer Fiona Boa on Mull recently lost five lambs in a week to the raptors that she and others say have become ‘far too densely populated’ and are damaging their livelihoods.
‘It’s not just the dent to income, it’s all the hours of extra work it causes to keep our stock safe. It’s getting out of control now.’
White-tailed eagles were reintroduced 40 years ago on Rum but have made their way to Mull and further afield. They are also one of the island’s big tourist attractions.
But Fiona, who farms at Dervaig, added: ‘Even many of those for whom tourism is their main income would agreed that Mull now has too many of them. When they were first introduced, there must’ve been a plan of what to do if it got too successful. I’d like to know what that plan was.’
David Colthart, chairman of the Argyll and Lochaber Sea Eagle stakeholder group, says ‘it is not fully appreciated by the public the negative impact of the reintroduction of whitetailed eagles has had, adding ‘in some hill flocks the level of killing by some of these birds is unsustainable’. ‘As a farmer, like others, I have experienced first hand the devastating impact these birds can have on your flock and personally feel it is not acceptable that we as farmers and crofters are paying the price of a species reintroduction where the impacts weren’t fully thought through,’ he said.
NFU Scotland says more needs to be done to deliver a revised white-tailed eagle action plan being led by NatureScot.
The union has written to NatureScot voicing frustration that despite efforts to try out ways to deter predators, lambs are continuing to be lost with some farmers and crofters experiencing substantial impacts on their flocks.
An escalating range of licensable actions on birds which habitually target livestock now need to be ‘a more accessible option’, says NFU Scotland, with humanely killing problem birds as the last resort.
But Duncan Orr-Ewing, head of species and land management for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds Scotland, said the comments from NFUS were ‘disappointing’ as a new White-tailed Eagle Action Plan 2021-4, which NFUS was involved in, is about to be published by NatureScot.
He said: ‘This plan committed all partners to continuing to explore white-tailed eagle management options within the context of the evidence around livestock predation, licensing requirements and the need to protect the population of these wonderful birds – important in their own right but also for local economies through green tourism. The scheme also commits NatureScot to the continuation of public payment to agricultural producers – currently running at £300k per annum – through the Sea Eagle Management Scheme.
‘While there is some localised evidence of livestock predation involving a relatively small number of white-tailed eagle breeding pairs, serious agricultural damage is very hard to establish in practice and this subject is therefore not as clear cut as NFUS assert.’
NFUS president Martin Kennedy said members are frustrated by the lack of progress to date, particularly in relation to the management of the birds. ‘We need urgent delivery and implementation of key actions,’ he said.
A NatureScot spokesperson said: ‘We understand the concerns of farmers and crofters, and continue to work closely with them and a range of stakeholders to offer management support through the Sea Eagle Management Scheme and to trial management techniques which can help reduce these negative impacts.’