Is this really 2012, or are we back in 1912?
A community councillor on the Isle of Mull has accused sea eagles of destroying wildlife on the island. In the same article, reported in the Herald (see here), a farmer says the sea eagles are killing his and his neighbour’s lambs.
We’ve been here so many times before (e.g. see here and links within, that point to several scientific studies that have demonstrated sea eagles have a ‘minimal impact’ on lamb survival). Perhaps the councillor and the farmer would like to read the latest (2010) SNH commissioned report on the impact of sea eagles on lambs on the Gairloch peninsula; a study that was commissioned after farmers claimed eagles [three pairs] had eaten 200 lambs between them! Unsurprisingly, the evidence from the subsequent study did not support these claims. SNH report here.
Most islanders on Mull are well-known for their outstanding long-term support and protection of the reintroduced sea eagles; perhaps they might want to look carefully at the list of candidates in the next round of councillor elections. Although it’s not just councillors with strange opinions on sea eagles (see here)!
Raptor Persecution UK 
Can I just ask, have you got anything to do with the Raptor Politics website? It’s just that I read things on your site and then they appear shortly after on the other site. Thanks.
I would have thought it was obvious. RP is badly written with chronic mispellings and grammar issues. It’s also a great display of muddled thinking. Nor do they respect intellectual property rights they simply cut and paste without acknowledging their sources. Very poor. Others have gone further, see this http://www.birdingodyssey.blogspot.co.uk/2012/05/final-curtain.html
Slider, no, we have no connection whatsoever to the Raptor Politics website.
It’s probably to be expected that there will be some overlap on the topics we write about as both sites share a common aim (i.e. to publicise the illegal persecution of birds of prey), but that’s as far as it goes.
Perhaps the Mull Community Council would do well to examine the economic benefits brought to the island by Sea Eagles.
http://forargyll.com/2011/06/sea-eagles-5-year-tripling-of-economic-benefit-to-mull/
Enjoyed a TV prog on BBC Alba recently, which looked at the W T S Eagles’ return to Mull & likened it’s demise to the eradication of people during the clearances, when big landowners felt they were, like the Eagles, just getting in the way.
I was pleased to hear that now, most islanders link the return to a strong Eagle population on Mull, with the return to strength of the Gaelic language on the island.
It’s so encouraging to see such a positive attitude from people on the ground.
Sadly though, councillors don’t listen to ordinary folk!
Not suprising coming from a farmer who is also a councillor! Yes the same person
They get compensation for every lamb lost.
What would really help is to build a shelter for the lambs and ewes which has been mentioned before but of course they don’t have “grants” for them yet
[Final sentence deleted as potentially defamatory]