Goose threaten to Uist crofters leads to cull call

THE Greylag goose has been branded the “single biggest threat” to island crofting life in Scotland.

The Scottish Crofters Federation has called for a major cull to reduce the growing population of the protected – and once endangered – species, particularly in the Western Isles and Orkney.

Derek Flyn, chairman of the Scottish Crofting Federation (SCF), said the Uists in the Outer Hebrides were being particularly badly affected, adding: “Crofters and their families are now the endangered ones.

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“Biodiversity is of course important, but the key to this is to safeguard the livelihoods of the people who live here. Without them working the land, the protection of biodiversity cannot happen.”

He added: “Crofters’ complaints about the goose problem are not new, but it is now reaching devastating proportions in the Uists.

“Crops of cereal and grass are being ruined by grazing and fouling by geese. A crofter will wait on tenterhooks for the crop to ripen, balancing this against the risk of the geese coming.

“If he is unlucky, just when the crop is capable of being harvested they move in and completely destroy his field in hours.”

As a breeding bird, the Greylag goose was once considered rare in British terms.

In 1986 it was estimated that there were around 700-800 breeding pairs in the UK, of which around 150 were breeding in the Outer Hebrides.

Now the Uists are year-round home to more than 10,000, and that population is growing, according to SCF. In Orkney they have been carrying out pilot culls.

Mr Flyn said:“Crofting agriculture is very important to the Uists, much of which is designated ‘High Nature Value’.

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“The rapid increase in the numbers of geese is accounted for by several factors. People used to shoot geese for the pot, but that gradually stopped when supermarkets came.

“Reseeding gave the geese a supply of feed that inevitably attracted them to stay and breed. Then a crow eradication programme got rid of the goose’s only predator. And despite these vast numbers, geese are still protected by law.”

He added: “Crofters are told they can shoot marauding deer on their crofts but not geese, except at certain times of the year and at the will of the landlord who has the shooting rights and dictates whether crofters can shoot or not.

“There seems no reason to not change the law so that geese can be controlled year-round, decoys can be used in August and wild goose meat and products can be sold.

“Wild goose should become part of the Uist diet – it is local food - but it should also be a commercial opportunity.

“The two objectives are to get funding to continue protecting crops and to change the law regarding geese control and meat sales. There is a catastrophe unfolding and officialdom appears to have failed to recognise this and to take action.”

Rebecca Cotton, Project Manager of Machair Life+, a European funded environmental programme that runs a crop protection scheme, said: “I think it fair to say that geese are the single biggest threat to island crofting.

“We all talk about the need to retain young people as the most important contribution to the sustainability of the Western Isles, but in crofting terms there will be nothing left for the young people unless we do something about the goose problem now.

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“Unfortunately the Machair Life+ project finishes this year and we haven’t, as yet, secured another phase. SNH have an ‘Adaptive Management’ four-year trial that controls goose numbers but this alone will not reduce the population to manageable levels. It needs to work alongside a crop protection scheme.

“Crofters have said that they can tolerate a population of 3,500 to 4,000 geese. If we lose a year of the joint crop protection and adaptive management work, greylags will definitely threaten the growing of corn and, therefore, the raising of cattle on the Uists.”

Na h-Eileanan an Iar SNP MSP, Alasdair Allan, said: “Numbers of Greylag Geese particularly in Uist, but also across the Western Isles, have been on the rise with significant evidence that they are no longer migrating away in the winter.

“This has an obvious impact on crofting given the virtual impossibility of cultivating when large numbers of Greylag Geese are about.

“I believe we have probably reached the stage where it would be difficult seriously to argue that Greylag Geese are in need of much protection in the Western Isles.”

“A radical solution such as shooting is required to control numbers, before the situation gets completely out of hand and causes more problems, not just for crofting but for the wider environment.”

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