As Rossy points out, this all started some time back - have a look at the "See Also" links to the right of the latest news report. I also agree that the
occasional live lamb
may possibly be taken by a Sea Eagle but I emphasise,
occasional.
What I do dispute, however and what the results of the tagging study seem to support, is the sheer numbers claimed by Mr Fraser - from a BBC News report of December last year:
BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Highlands and Islands | Study to examine sea eagle claims Willie Fraser, of the crofting foundation, said: "Four holdings on the Gairloch Peninsula have lost more than 200 lambs between May and September and they are adamant that the majority are victims of the sea eagle.
This when (from an earlier BBC News report, December 2008) "there are only three breeding pairs of sea eagle in the Gairloch area, and it would be highly unlikely the birds were responsible for the loss of all of the lambs."
And [September 2008] (An RSPB) "...spokesman said: "These surprising claims must be compared with a recent study conducted on the island of Mull - the most densely populated area of Scotland for breeding sea eagles with eight pairs - which concluded that between only 33 and 37 lambs were killed by the birds on the whole island each year.
"In the whole of Wester Ross, there are just three breeding pairs of sea eagles. Gairloch occupies less than a quarter of Mull's land area.
"We are therefore extremely surprised at the claims of the number of lambs alleged to have been killed by sea eagles.
"There was also evidence that many of those killed on Mull were what is termed 'non viable', meaning they would not have survived into adulthood anyway due to disease and illness."
I know how hard the crofting way of life is and I sympathise with the crofters' difficulties BUT I do not believe Mr Fraser is doing their cause anything but harm by sticking to his clearly biased guns on this matter, even in the face of the results of the studies carried out this year. When he has successfully eradicated all the Sea Eagles, what/who will he then turn to for blame?