I totally agree with the last 3 posts. Dismissing the crofters claims out of hand will get us nowhere.
Anyone who doubts that
some Sea Eagles will take
some lambs in
some areas should remember that studies on Mull proved that it does happen.
To quote from a recent Scottish Natural Heritage publication:-
“Sheep farmers
(on Mull) raised concerns about sea eagles taking
lambs and, although it’s rare, studies confirmed that eagles
do occasionally take live as well as dead or poorly lambs on
Mull. As a result, SNH launched a management scheme in
2005 to provide land managers with payments to improve
sheep stocks, through sheep health measures such as
tick treatments or extra shepherding. So far, the scheme
has provided £120,000 in payments to the 27 people in
the scheme and it’s seen by many as a successful way of
dealing with a difficult and contentious issue.”
For the full publication see here -
http://www.snh.org.uk/pdfs/SNHMagazi...of_fortune.pdf
Surely this is the way forward on the Gairloch peninsula as well - a small price to pay (12p from each of the RSPB's 1 million members
) for conserving these spectacular birds and winning over the support of local people
Jeff