Save the Wader Petition Posted Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Save the wader which was mentioned in the Scottish Field Magazine
www.savethewader.org.uk ( June 2008 )
Please sign it, hopefully your signature will help make a difference!

Impact of predators Posted Thursday, April 10, 2008
SIR, – Further to your story (March 28) on ravens attacking newborn lambs in Strathspey, and an RSPB Scotland spokesman’s quoted comment that he would find it “very hard to believe” that so many lambs could be killed by these predators, I challenge the RSPB to publish any evidence which allows the organisation to imply that the farmer is lying about his losses.

It is three years since an initial report by Stirling University set out the need for scientific research into the impact of predators on farm and wildlife, and the current very real suffering of these lambs and the impact on the farmers involved seems an opportune moment for any facts to be made public and the debate over the protection of these birds reopened.

The British Trust for Ornithology’s figures show that raven numbers have increased by 1,000% over 10 years, and my own members who know the hills and moorland better than any RSPB “experts” report an unprecedented number of dotterel, plover and ptarmigan nests destroyed by these predatory birds.

An absence of proper science and ill-informed comments such as those from the RSPB contribute to the public losing out on what could be a much richer mix of the moorland species.

Alex Hogg,

chairman, Scottish Gamekeepers Association,

Arran Business Centre,

Arran Road, Perth.

Time to rethink outdated wildlife protection policy Posted Thursday, April 10, 2008
Time to rethink outdated wildlife protection policy

View GalleryGraphic pictures of sheep pecked to death by ravens prompted your rural affairs editor, Dan Buglass, to call for more balance in the countryside (report, 7 April). I can only echo his views. The recent attacks on sheep are visually shocking, and their financial consequences easily assessed. However, a hidden threat exists beyond the lambing fields, out on our moors and uplands, where raven attacks on the eggs and chicks of ground-nesting birds such as the plover, the dotterel and the pt
Vast sums are spent every year in the uplands in the name of conservation or, on grouse moors, to bring high-value tourism to remote parts of Scotland. Unfortunately, the pictures we as gamekeepers could take of broken eggshells would not tell as dramatic a story as a mutilated newborn lamb, and despite our strongest arguments, applications for licences to control ravens for wildlife reasons are never granted.

Gamekeepers care about their livestock as much as farmers do and, like the sheep farmer, we find it heart-breaking to witness the waste of young life and our year's work. The general public lose out too on what would be a richer mix of the moorland species.

Farmers, shepherds and gamekeepers make up the majority of the fragile community in Scotland's isolated glens, and we believe our livelihoods are under threat from a dated protection policy which has seen raven numbers explode by 1,000 per cent in ten years. It is time for government to reassess priorities and give our people and our wildlife a chance.

ALEX HOGG

Chairman, Scottish Gamekeepers Association

Arran Road, Perth

General Licence Update Posted Tuesday, April 8, 2008
GENERAL LICENCES FOR CONTROL OF BIRD SPECIES IN SCOTLAND

Background
General Licences are issued on an annual basis by the Scottish Government to permit activities which would otherwise be illegal under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. These licences apply only to birds.

Under European law, all birds are protected. Some are then allowed to be “hunted” under national legislation. Other species are allowed to be controlled for specific purposes only (such as the protection of crops, livestock and foodstuffs, conservation of wild birds, prevention of the spread of disease etc.) under the General Licences. It is essential that anyone operating under these licences complies fully with the law, because breaches of their conditions could affect their future renewal.

The 2008 Licences contain some changes that everyone must be aware of. These are contained in the following notes.

Scottish General Licences 2008
You don’t have to apply for a General Licence, but you are required by law to abide by the conditions of the licence that you are operating under. You can find the full conditions on the Scottish Government website at

www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Environment/Wildlife-Habitats/16330/general-licences

Most SGA members will operate under the three following licences noted below:

Licence SGGL No.1/2008 – which allows you to kill or take certain birds for the conservation of wild birds
Licence SGGL No.2/2008 – allowing you to kill or take birds in order to prevent serious damage to livestock, foodstuffs for livestock, crops, vegetables and fruit
Licence SGGL No.3/2008 – to protect public health, public safety and prevent the spread of disease

General Conditions
All three of the licences mentioned have common features:

• You must read and understand the licence.
• You must be satisfied that non-lethal controls are either ineffective or impractical.
• Anyone convicted of a wildlife crime cannot use the General Licences until their conviction is considered to be “spent”. Such individuals may nevertheless apply to the Scottish Government for a specific licence.
• Shooting with any firearm, including semi-automatic firearms, shotguns or air weapons is permitted.

Cage Traps – General Conditions
All three of the licences contain some general provisions about cage traps and Larsen traps:

• Every cage trap must be inspected at intervals of no more than 24 hours and such an inspection must be sufficient to detect the presence of any live or dead birds.
• Decoy birds must be provided with food, water, shelter and a perch. Any dead or sickly decoy bird must be immediately removed from a trap.
• When not in use, Larsen traps should be securely stored so as to prevent accidental use. Crow cage traps that cannot be removed must have the doors either removed or fixed open using a locked padlock.
• Any cage trap or Larsen trap used under the licences must have a tag attached which gives the telephone number of the local police wildlife crime coordinator. This tag will also carry a unique code which allows the police, and only the police, to identify the operator of the trap. This code will be given to you by the police wildlife crime coordinator for your area when you supply them details of your estate/farm/business, the locality, the name of the owner or factor and the name of the headkeeper. One code will be sufficient for all the Larsen traps or cage traps that you operate. Contact details for wildlife crime coordinators are given below:

Central Scotland Police
Insp Brian Sharkey.
Tel: 01786 456345
Brian.Sharkey@centralscotland.pnn.police.uk

Dumfries and Galloway Constabulary
Lorna Irving.
Tel: 0845 600 5701
Lorna.E.Irving@dg.pnn.police.uk

Fife Constabulary
Det. Sgt. Graeme Mitchell.
Tel: 01592 411907.
Graeme.Mitchell@fife.pnn.police.uk

Grampian Police
Tracy Forsyth.
Tel: 01224 307871 or 0845 600 5700.
Tracy.Forsyth@grampian.pnn.police.uk

Lothian and Borders Police
Constable Jim McGovern.
Tel: 0131 311 3517
James.McGovern@lbp.pnn.police.uk

Northern Constabulary
Paul Eddington
Tel: 07803 606930
p.eddington@northern.pnn.police.uk

Strathclyde Police
Joe Connelly.
Tel: 0141 532 6885.
joe.connelly@strathclyde.pnn.police.uk

Tayside Police
Alan Stewart
Tel: 01738 892650.
alan.stewart@tayside.pnn.police.uk



Key Points

• You are not required to carry a copy of the licences.
• You must have the authority of the landowner or occupier of shooting rights before you can utilise the general licences.
• Your prime objective must meet one of the criteria for which the licences are issued: conserving wild birds, preventing serious damage to livestock, foodstuffs for livestock, crops, vegetables and fruit or to protect public health, public safety and prevent the spread of disease.
• There is no legal obligation to have tried non-lethal control methods such as proofing or scaring before conducting lethal control, only to be satisfied that non-lethal methods are ineffective or impracticable.

In this respect, the following points are worth considering:

 Pigeons are a highly mobile species and target vulnerable crops as and when they ripen and can vary their flightlines throughout the day. It would be ineffective and impractical to set up any stationary deterrent such as a scarecrow or scaregun as the pigeons would merely move field.
 Birds that routinely damage crops in the area may be distributed over such a large area that is ineffective and impractical to shoot them on site or employ non-lethal methods
 Corvids are highly intelligent and quickly become used to static or mechanical scaring techniques, which therefore become ineffective and impractical. Because of this shooting, or the use of static or mobile cage traps, are effective methods of control for territorial birds such as crow, jackdaw, jay, magpie and rook.

Update Posted Monday, March 31, 2008
General Licence
Although the bulk of the General Licence will remain the same after 1st April, there are a number of points that still give the SGA cause for concern.

First of all, we are concerned about the condition that anyone convicted under the relevant wildlife Acts is banned from using the General Licence (although they may apply to the Scottish Government for a specific licence). Without seeking in any way to undermine the important task of cracking down on serious wildlife crime, it appears to us that the most minor of convictions could prevent a Keeper from operating under General Licence and potentially therefore, restrict the ability to carry out profession. We have written to the Environment Minister to query whether this is truly intended.

We also question the way in which the ‘self-service’ coding system on Larsen and Cage traps has been introduced. It would appear that the Police made proposals for this which we have had no chance to comment on or influence in the run-up to the 1st April start date. We are now aware that the Police seem prepared to implement a lead-in time before charges are brought against individuals who fail to comply with these new requirements. Again, we have written to seek clarification on a practical lead-in.

We will update on any response from the Minister.

Snaring
The time-table for introduction of the snaring requirements set out in the Environment Minister’s announcement to Scottish Parliament in February depends on the progress of legislation. We expect this to take between 1 and 2 years to complete. However, members of the cross-industry group (SGA, BASC, SRPBA, SEBG and SCA) believe that certain requirements can be implemented sooner. We are keen to do this to support the Minister’s decision to maintain snaring, which could so easily have gone against us. The elements that we believe can be introduced soon are:

• Safety stops on snares
• Development of a joint code of practice based on current SGA, BASC and G & WCT documents, for release in summer 2008
• New snaring rules proposed (snare action to be checked, anchoring requirements, prohibited locations for snares - on posts, over water, on planks, fences) to be included within the joint code of practice.

Other requirements such as the introduction of ID tags on snares, advisory signs and training accreditation will require discussion between the cross-industry group and Scottish Government. As these are likely to fall in line with the Legislation, we expect that it will take between 1 and 2 years from now before they come into force. We will update members and indicate any time-table as soon as we know.

Tail docking
We are co-operating with BASC to set up a petition to run this Summer calling for a change in the law to allow for the tail docking of working dogs. Alongside this, recent research in support of docking and ongoing research to be undertaken by the Royal Veterinary College may help to back up public support.


SGA Office

Core Paths Consultation Posted Monday, March 3, 2008
Perth & Kinross Council are sending out letters with regard to their Core Path Consultation, please respond to this by 31st March. You can also download this consultation and view maps of proposed core paths on theri website,

http://www.pkc.gov.uk

Snaring update Posted Thursday, February 28, 2008
Snaring update

We are aware that there’s a discussion forum running on the Snaring statement by the Minister, Mike Russell, to Scottish Parliament yesterday (20.2.08). To recap on his statement, he announced:

• Compulsory fitting of crimped safety stops
• Compulsory fitting of ID tags on snares which will allow identification of their owner by the authorities, but not by casual passers-by.
• The action of a snare must be checked before it is set
• Snares which are not staked in place must be fixed with an anchor that cannot be dragged away
• Prohibiting the setting of snares on posts, over water courses, on planks or fences
• Specifying that areas where snaring is taking place are clearly marked with signs.

The Minister also intends to bring forward legislation which would make it an offence to tamper with a lawfully set snare. He also wants a new land management industry accreditation scheme with the aim that within a fixed period everyone who sets a snare will have received training in best practice and the law, with the intention that eventually no-one without training will be allowed to set a snare.


Over the last few months, the SGA has been involved in the debate and discussions about snaring that led up to the announcement. Of course we see, and have pointed out the obvious practical issues in the Minister’s statement. However, we have a Government in power at the moment that is prepared to consider land management issues, and this has allowed us to have discussions that were unthinkable with the previous administration. We know that there is a long way ahead of us, but we will work with the Minister to get things right with snaring and other vital issues that affect our work.

Snaring Posted Thursday, February 21, 2008
The SGA Committee has fought hard for retention of snaring as an essential tool for keepering. Mike Russell, the Environment Minister, is due to make a statement in early February 08. At the moment, it is possible he will recommend the retention of snaring, but with a number of restrictions. The restrictions might be standard construction of the snares, or estate ID on snares.

Although the Minister’s recommendations carry weight, the Rural Development Committee within Parliament may still review them. Equally, a Private Member’s Bill might be introduced. Either route might take a totally different view from the Minister’s proposals.

It is VITAL that MSPs understand why we need to retain snaring as a tool of our work. Please make every effort to contact your local MSP to press for retention of snaring, otherwise we run the risk of an outright ban.

Strategy for Wild Deer in Scotland Posted Thursday, January 10, 2008
‘Strategy for Wild Deer in Scotland’ from the Deer Commission, a response must be in by the 1st February 2008. We urge all interested members to ring the deer commission in Stirling (01786 446 282) or in Inverness (01463 725 000) for a copy of the consultation document (also available on the DCS website as a download) and send in comments on the strategy and any other points you wish to raise.

Raffle 2007 Posted Thursday, December 20, 2007
This years winner of the HONDA ATV Raffle is Bill Andrew of Ardrossan, Mr Andrew was absolutely delighted and never expected to win a prize. The second prize, an original oil painting by Elizabeth Halstead was won by Mr Paul McRae of Buckie. The raffle has once again been tremendous, a total of £8400 was raised and The SGA would like to thank everyone who helped raising these funds, and most importantly HONDA UK who very kindly donated the ATV to the SGA.

The threat of Bluetongue Disease - Deer Posted Friday, October 26, 2007
The threat of Bluetongue Disease - Peter Green Honorary Veterinary Adviser, The British Deer Society

The current appearance of Bluetongue Disease in Suffolk has great significance for both the farming and wildlife populations of the UK. Bluetongue is a well recognised disease of ruminant animals in many parts of the world, but the UK has always remained free of the infection, although it has affected large areas of northern Europe since 2005.

The disease is caused by a virus and spread by biting midges. It is not infectious from animal to animal, but depends upon the insect vector to transmit the virus from one animal to another in much the same way as malaria is transmitted from person to person. A wide range of ruminants may be infected by the virus, but the response varies considerably from species to species. Of the domestic animals, sheep are the most seriously affected, with severe disease in adult sheep causing high mortality. Signs include swelling of the head, high fever, nasal discharge, lameness, pneumonia and interference with the blood supply to the tongue and lips, which turn blue or even black. In milder outbreaks, clinical signs may be less severe but abortion, stillbirth and weak, fading or deformed lambs occur. Cattle are usually either only very mildly affected, or are not affected at all - although the current disease in Suffolk was first recognised in a cow; other cattle as well as sheep are now being tested. The type of virus in Suffolk has been identified as BTV8, which is the same strain as in the recent outbreaks near the English Channel and North Sea coasts in Europe. It has probably arrived with a wind borne midge.

Some parts of the southern USA have continual and persistent infection, as do some parts of Mediterranean southern Europe and many other sub-tropical agricultural economies are plagued by the disease. The virus belongs to a closely related group of viruses that includes the virus causing African Horse Sickness and a severe disease of deer called Epizootic Haemorrhagic Disease [EHD]; in fact, the deer virus and the sheep virus are so closely related that some scientists believe that they are simply variations of the same virus. Others believe that the viruses are distinct, but very similar. The deer disease [EHD] causes serious and fatal signs in white tailed deer in many parts of the USA and Canada. Outbreaks sometimes kill hundreds of animals, usually mostly white tails, but in severe incidents mule deer and pronghorn antelopes are also affected and may die. The clinical signs in deer are the same as the signs in sheep with Bluetongue. Rather perversely white tailed deer are also the most seriously affected by true Bluetongue virus, leading to great confusion in southern States of the USA where both diseases are endemic. Red deer, fallow deer, muntjac and roe deer are all potential hosts of the Bluetongue virus and in experimental inoculations with EHD all four species developed a period of infection, with multiplication and shedding of the virus, but none developed serious disease.

The vector of the disease in southern Europe is a biting midge Culicoides imicola. This insect is not normally present in the UK and present climatic conditions mean that it is unlikely to become established. If temperatures fall below 12oC for periods of time the midge cannot survive and persistent periods of temperatures higher than 15oC are required for the virus to multiply within the insect. It is clear, however, that the midge has extended its range northwards across Europe in recent years. and the prolonged heat wave of July 2006 was an ideal breeding opportunity. This particular midge species would not survive for long in the UK, but it is possible that animals could have been bitten by the infected midges before they disappeared. Stalkers [especially those in the north] will be only too aware that we have several species of aggressive biting midge, some of which are other closely related Culicoides species and DEFRA has pointed out that these insects could potentially become vectors of the Bluetongue virus.

Almost all Eurasian deer species are members of the subfamily Cervinae, which contains species like the red deer, sika, fallow, axis, the rusa and swamp deer. Wapiti, or American elk are also classified within this sub family and just like red and sika, can hybridise with European red deer. Most of the New World deer like the north American white tailed, the mule deer and the South American brocket deer, marsh deer, pampas deer and pudu are members of a different sub family of deer, the Odocoilinae. Bluetongue virus appears to be much more able to become established and to cause disease in the Odocoilinae deer [for instance the white tailed] than in the Cervinae species. The roe deer is a member of the Odocoilinae, not the Cervinae and is therefore much more closely related to American white tails than to British red or fallow. Although there has been a little work with EHD virus in roe, not a great deal is known about the pathogenesis of true Bluetongue in roe, which is generally a deer species of northern latitudes where Bluetongue has not traditionally occurred. If the disease becomes endemic in areas where roe deer and farm animals live closely together, the roe may become symptomless hosts of the virus or may suffer actual disease. This is speculation, but the national bodies with specific deer interests such as the British Deer Society and the Deer Initiative are closely monitoring the situation and will endeavour to keep web pages up dated.

For the time being, DEFRA is investigating the Suffolk case by means of blood testing to determine whether the virus has spread. The UK Bluetongue Control Strategy is now being implemented; an outbreak will not be declared unless it is shown that the virus is circulating. Protection Zones and Surveillance Zones are much larger in the case of Bluetongue and the disease control is principally directed at elimination of the vector insects, although slaughter of infected livestock is a control option. The appearance of the disease at the end of the summer, rather than at the beginning, gives some hope that the infection will be limited and that the virus will not overwinter in the UK.

Deer stalkers and managers are advised to continue to be vigilant for signs of disease in deer, either those monitored in deer parks and farms or culled wild animals taken as part of routine management. The national restrictions on stalking because of Foot and Mouth Disease continue to be in force - shooting of deer is permitted and carcases for human consumption may be moved, but all non-edible parts of the carcase, including gralloch and heads may not be moved off the premises unless they are entering the officially licensed fallen stock collection schemes. Should deer with signs of disease be encountered, veterinary advice may be sought through the offices of the British Deer Society and The Deer Initiative and details of local DEFRA offices may be found in all BT telephone directories.

Peter Green Honorary Veterinary Adviser
The British Deer Society

Members change of address notification Posted Friday, September 21, 2007
Members who are moving house or have moved recently, could they please inform the SGA Secretary. Many magazines have been returned by the Post Office. We like to make sure that members receive their copies and also their membership cards.