Solutions still sought for predatory Sea Eagle problem

He is chair of the Argyll and Lochaber Sea Eagle stakeholder group and one of the NFUS representatives on the National Sea Eagles Stakeholder Panel. David farms more than 3000 acres of marginal hill land and over the years has been significantly affected by sea eagle predation on his flock of sheep.

The WTE action plan has been extended until next year. Is another extension on the cards or do we need to have a rethink about how livestock is protected?

The current White Tailed Eagle Action plan runs through until the end of 2024 and I would expect it to be reviewed and possibly extended past that date.

Members of the national stakeholder group will decide on whether or not to extend it, but given that there is still significant issues still on some farms and crofts, I would expect it would be.

The current Sea Eagle Management Scheme (SEMS) ends at the end of this year and the views of myself and other farming stakeholders are that any new scheme needs a substantial lift in funding for measures to help mitigate the impacts of white tailed eagle (WTE) predation on farms and crofts.

READ MORE: Sheep farmer David Colthart is looking for a sea eagle solution

To bring the current management scheme funding levels into perspective, RSPB claimed last year that the economic benefit of these birds to Mull alone was up to £8m annually and there are 22 breeding pairs on Mull.

The annual spend for nearly 190 SEMS participants was £266,000 in total. The total funding for the whole of Scotland for sea eagle management is less than the supposed economic ‘benefit’ of one nesting pair on Mull!

And so, I would extend an invitation to Mairi Gougeon, the current Cabinet Secretary to come across and hear first-hand the impacts experienced.

Have the measures you introduced on your farm been effective?

In some parts they have been, but with such an extensive area to cover at lambing and during the summer there is not the shepherding resources available to be on the ground all the time to keep the birds away on each hirsel after lambing.

We have found here that the birds can be determined to predate lambs. They move to an area that there is no one there or, as happened last May, kill when I was no more than a few hundred metres away doing the rounds of the hill park.

Only when I got to within 50m of the bird, did it lift off with a freshly killed lamb.

What other measures have you used?

As a WTE monitor farm for the last several years we, along with some other holdings, trialled out various types of mitigation methods to try and prevent the WTEs killing livestock.

Some things have worked in some places, but they have not worked here. Diversionary feeding was trialled on one farm during lambing and worked there on that pair, but was trialled here but did not work.

It is not as if the WTEs do not eat other wildlife. They do, but come lambing time in ours and many others’ experiences, they switch to killing lambs.

They are apex predators reintroduced into an environment that, in many areas, there is not enough natural prey to sustain them.

How are results of these measures been recorded?

Accurate data is key. Annual scanning of the flock and regular counts during the season can demonstrate along with recording of where WTEs are being seen.

The recording of pluckings and other evidence helps demonstrate if there is an impact on the productivity of the flock, but also taking into account if other predators or weather events have had an impact or not.

This data can be compared to other similar holdings that do not have an WTE issue for comparison.

Has there been an increase in WTE across Scotland/in your area?

Yes, the population continues to rise and is mirroring the population modelling forecast in 2016 carried out by NatureScot, when it forecasted that there could be 225 territorial pairs by 2025.

This does not include juveniles as WTEs don’t breed until they are around six years old. There are a lot of juvenile WTEs out there and in some places have done significant damage to some flocks.

Has our understanding of the impact of WTE on farms increased thanks to monitor farms and other projects?

We are now into the seventh year being a WTE monitor farm where different trials have taken place. NatureScot funded observers co-ordinated through a call-off contractor with a substantial amount of data collected by the observers and farmers on the habits of the birds and any impacts on the farm’s livestock.

It is hoped that where some methods do work then they could be rolled out to other farms and crofts. We have all learned a lot more on how the birds interact with livestock and their habits can change.

How is this helping?

We trialled so-called 'enhanced shepherding' where NatureScot, through the Sea Eagle Management Scheme (SEMS), helped fund extra shepherding hours in the lambing areas and hill parks during and after lambing.

It certainly helped, but with extensive areas to cover and hill parks geographically separate what funding is currently available would not cover what we feel is necessary to cover the whole flock here during the risk period.

Can a balance be struck between the needs of farmers and the populations of WTE?

The WTE population continues to rise exponentially and spread but, as I see it, in areas like here more and more birds are trying to make new territories but there is not an increase in available food which increases the risk of conflict with less and less hill farms.

It’s not the birds' fault. They see hill flocks as a food source, but these flocks are domestic livestock not wildlife and someone’s livelihood.

There will be areas where WTEs are not an issue and I do appreciate that tourists love to see them but where you have problem birds that continually focus on domestic livestock as a food source causing substantial impacts then they need to be removed.

In NatureScot’s population modelling, it showed that even if a small number of birds were removed it would not affect the population growth of the species.

Should the public be more aware of the impact of WTE?

The public, I think, are lot more aware of the issues of WTE predation than there were in the past.

BBC Countryfile and Landward covered it in the last few years, as well as being highlighted on various radio programmes. NatureScot has a lot of information publicly available on their website which details a lot of the issues and work.

But what causes confusion with the public is certain high-profile conservationists and organisations who rubbish farmer and crofter claims and deny it is a serious issue.

In my personal opinion, if these people publicly stated that it is a serious issue and in places some farms and crofts are significantly impacted, it would reduce a lot of the bad feeling on both sides and maybe we’ll be able to work towards a solution that does allow peaceful co-existence of white tailed eagles and the farming and crofting communities.

What advice would you give farmers who are concerned about WTE?

In the first instance contact NatureScot. They have a dedicated operations officer who will be able assist and will arrange a call-off contractor to visit and discuss the issues.