Sea eagles kill fewer than 2 per cent of Scottish lambs

Crofters in Wester Ross and on Skye had claimed lambs were taken by the birds, but the SNH said the study of lambs in the Gairloch area suggested that fewer than 2 per cent of lambs’ deaths were directly linked to sea eagles, whose main source of food was seabirds.

Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham said the report was a ‘timely and valuable piece of research’, but farmers and crofters were ‘rightly concerned’ about their livestock and it was important to develop knowledge and understanding of the issue.

“Where there are problems with sea eagles predating on livestock we will look at maintaining and improving schemes to find ways to help farmers manage their stock to co-exist with these birds.”

In the study, undertaken by the Food and Environment Research Agency, lambs were fitted with radio tags so they could be tracked and observed by field workers, while shepherds were also asked for their accounts of sea eagles.

Ewen Mackinnon, of the Scottish Crofting Federation and member of the project steering group, said questions remained to be answered.

He said: “Lamb mortality in this area was significantly down on previous years and the evidence from the study indicated that sea eagle predation impact on the lamb flock was minimal.

“This is good news for the year 2009 but also leaves open to question what might be the yearly variations in predation impact.”

NFU Scotland’s head of rural policy Jonnie Hall said: “With changes in agriculture in the uplands – notably reductions in livestock numbers – and the spread of sea eagles into new areas, we believe the Scottish Government and its agencies need to be in a position to respond to ensuing management issues.

“Where the density of sea eagles can have a significant impact on farming interests, we consider that management measures need to be put in place to minimise adverse consequences.” 

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