‘REWILDING has got out of control’ – those were the words of Aberdeenshire farmer Patrick Sleigh at last week’s NFU Scotland conference – feelings which were echoed by many farmers in the room, during a heated debate on ‘pests, predation and policy’.

Frustrations over wildlife management topped the agenda at the annual conference, surpassing discussions over Brexit, with farmers joining forces to share their experiences of beavers, badgers and sea eagles.

Mr Sleigh explained to the room that badger attacks were rife in Aberdeenshire, and offered up harrowing photographic evidence of badger attacks on sheep.

'You'll not see images like this on Spring Watch,” he stressed. “The story that is told on the screen isn’t close to reality – but then dead lambs aren’t pretty. Badgers have more rights than you and I.”

David Colthart, chair of the Argyll and Lochaber sea eagle stakeholder group, highlighted how little progress has been made to monitor and prevent sea eagle attacks on sheep in the west: “Predation has the potential to fundamentally undermine the ability to run hefted hill flocks. There is very real risk to the future of the hill farming in the west if this carnage continues.”

He noted that in the past three years a small number of farms and crofts had been chosen to take part in a sea eagle monitoring project, trialling methods to try and stop predation in the hope that any successful measures could be rolled out to other farms and crofts.

“We’re going into the third year of the action plan and various measures have been tried, and so far, not stopped the killing,” he reported. “A point will come when a line has to be drawn, as the union cannot be expected to continue supporting endless measures to try and stop the killing of livestock when clearly the only option in some instances is to remove the offending birds.

“The sea eagle will be the final nail in the coffin for many businesses if we cannot find a resolution,” he warned.

Scottish Natural Heritage’s wildlife management manager Alastair McGugan argued that cooperation was needed from farmers in order to deliver on nature conservation, but conceded that there was a fine balance to be struck between wildlife and productive farming.

“Beavers are back! But I don't think anyone would have chosen to see the species return right next to some of Scotland's most productive farmland," said Mr McGugan. "SNH wants to work together with a range of partners to ensure Scotland’s nature survives and thrives for many generations. We want society to understand that wildlife management is necessary to balance the needs of nature.”

NFU Scotland’s land-use policy manager, Andrew Midgely, responded: “SNH is moving in the direction of ‘adaptive management’ which should allow a more flexible approach to wildlife management to be taken. Clearly it is right that wildlife is protected, but equally, when a wild species causes problems it is also right that it can be managed, and our wildlife legislation allows for this.”