‘I’m used to people thinking I’m lying’: are Scotland’s sea eagles killing hundreds of lambs?
‘I’m used to people thinking I’m lying’: are Scotland’s sea eagles killing hundreds of lambs?
Bringing back the long-vanished bird to the UK was hailed as a conservation triumph. Then farmers started finding the corpses of their prized livestock
Two spinal cords, a dozen ribs and a hollowed-out head lie next to a peak called “rock of the eagle” in Gaelic. These are the remains of a pair of three-month-old lambs. It’s muggy, and maggots and foxes will make light work of the remaining skin and bone. In a few weeks, it’ll be as if it never happened.
Ruaridh MacKay, who has been farming here at Stronmagachan Farm in Inveraray for 25 years, picks up one of the spinal cords: sodden and slimy from successive fronts of rain, every morsel of flesh has been excavated. He was expecting to take these lambs to market next month.
All around are miles of sheep-grazed hills, like a giant lawn spun inside a tumble dryer. The valley is bowl-shaped and gets steeper the higher it rises, finishing in sheer rock. The sheep that live up here are bred for these conditions – both farmer and sheep have long lineages. Farming on these hills has changed little in 150 years.
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Fascinating read, and I think they cover the actual reason for this occuring so much more on these now barren islands where it doesn't occur in anywhere near the same numbers in other places that the eagle has been reintroduced; the hills are barren from humans clearing them in the early 20th century, there is no tree cover and consequently significantly fewer alternative prey for these eagles, less shelter for lambs and sheep, and less biodiversity.
The reality of the situation sounds like the farmers and their livestock would benefit from attempting to reforest, atleast in part. It would take a good 15-30 years at a minimum before forest would be regrown enough to enable other prey species to thrive, but it is probably the best option for keeping the places viable as farms without eradicating the eagles.