As regular CFZ-watchers will know, for some time Corinna has been doing a column for Animals & Men and a regular segment on On The Track... particularly about out-of-place birds and rare vagrants. There seem to be more and more bird stories from all over the world hitting the news these days so, to make room for them all - and to give them all equal and worthy coverage - she has set up this new blog to cover all things feathery and Fortean.

Thursday 22 November 2018

Sea eagle predation making sheep farming 'impossible'


News16 Nov 2018Ewan Pate
Sheep predation by white tailed sea eagles has risen to a level where it is now almost impossible for some farmers and crofters to maintain their flocks.
There are now an estimated 130 breeding pairs of the giant raptors in the west of Scotland following species reintroduction 30 years ago – but the population is predicted to soar to 700 pairs by 2040.
Not only are young lambs being killed, but adult sheep of up to 60kg are also now being taken.
Skye crofter Alastair Culbertson said: “We can lamb in parks near the house to protect young lambs but as soon as they are turned out on the open hill they and their mother become targets.
“These concerns have repeatedly been rejected by RSPB’s local representative at the Skye and Lochalsh Sea Eagle Stakeholder Group, who puts all livestock loss down to crofters’ ignorance and their failure to manage their livestock properly.
"Many crofters believe that at a local level, RSPB is a direct threat to them and that at the national level, crofters’ concerns are nothing more than an irrelevant inconvenience.”

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