Predation by sea eagles upon the livestock of crofters was on the agenda of a well-attended meeting of the Scottish Parliament’s Cross-party Group (CPG) on Crofting held at Holyrood last night.
The meeting was convened by Highlands & Islands Conservative MSP Jamie McGrigor who was last night re-elected as the Convener of the group, a position he has held since 2011.
Willie Fraser, a Gairloch crofter, attended the meeting and set out his personal experience, and that of fellow crofters in the Gairloch area, of significant losses of lambs due to sea eagle predation. Representatives of Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), the body in charge of the sea eagle reintroduction programme, were also present.
Commenting afterwards, Jamie, who has raised the issue of sea eagle predation repeatedly with Scottish Ministers and recently attended a packed public meeting of farmers and crofters on the subject in Oban organised by the National Farmers Union of Scotland, said:
“Willie Fraser set out the impact sea eagle predation in his area is having on local crofters. As a result of losses of lambs, some crofters are reducing the number of sheep they keep or giving up on keeping sheep altogether. He reported on a healthy lamb weighing 20 kg recently being taken by a sea eagle, and ewes being attacked by sea eagles as well as lambs. Some of these ewes were later dying from septicaemia from the wounds inflicted by the sea eagles’ talons.
“Crofters accept that foxes do also predate on lambs, but point out that they can take action against fox predation.
“As well as the animal welfare issue in terms of crofters being unable to protect their livestock from sea eagle predation, it was pointed out at the meeting that some lamb losses are becoming so great that they are preventing the traditional pattern of ewe lambs being replaced from within hefted sheep flocks.
“A number of crofters last night made the point that they believe SNH should have ensured that there were adequate wild food sources on the hills and coastline, in terms of fish and mammal species for the sea eagles, before they were reintroduced. I also expressed the view that mountain hares and rabbits had virtually disappeared from many areas of the North West and Argyll, and that this represented the disappearance of a major food source for eagles.
“It was also pointed out that modern medicines had reduced mortality and black loss in hill sheep stocks, which left less carrion as a food source. Another point raised was that the rules governing the burial of stock carcasses on farms and crofts mean the disposal of what would otherwise be a food source for the sea eagles.
“While some management schemes are available designed to support crofters mitigate the impact of sea eagle predation, many crofters feel these are completely insufficient, and naturally want to be able to protect their livestock from attack and not receive a small form of compensation for lamb losses.
“Mr Norman Leask, a Shetland crofter, said that his own grandfather had had the terrifying experience of being attacked by a sea eagle when aged 8 and there were documented stories of other children in Shetland in past times also being attacked.
“Given the level of concern being expressed on the subject, the CPG agreed that I would write to the Minister Paul Wheelhouse and to the new Chair of SNH, setting out the genuine concerns of crofters on this subject. This whole saga is very worrying; it seems desperately unfair that crofters have no means of defending their livestock, which is the principal aim of any person involved in shepherding, but it is quite clearly the result of a reintroduction of a species being taken forward without proper impact surveys being completed first.
“It is no good Ministers burying their head in the sand over this - something must be done”.