Sea eagles to be satellite tagged in livestock predation study

Forty sea eagles are to be fitted with satellite tags across the west of Scotland in a NatureScot-funded sea eagle tagging project to establish how the birds interact with lambs and sheep. The two-year study, announced on 17 July, brings together NatureScot, RSPB Scotland, SRUC and Natural Research Ltd, with policy input from NFU Scotland and the Scottish Crofting Federation.

Why are sea eagles being tagged?

Licensed ornithologists, working under licences issued through the BTO’s special methods panel, will fit up to 35 tags to chicks of around eight weeks old in Argyll, the Highlands and the Western Isles, with the remaining five reserved for adult breeding birds. An adult was trapped, tagged and released on the Western Isles earlier this year using techniques developed by European researchers.

Andrew Stevenson, NatureScot’s senior ornithologist, said: “This project will greatly add to our understanding of how sea eagles move around and their interaction with livestock. A key gap in our knowledge is what role immature eagles play in predating livestock, given they wander widely during their first three to four years until they settle on a territory. Tagging is the best way to get a handle on what they may be doing.”

He added: “While this collaborative partnership began because of the need for more information about livestock predation, the tag data will also help us understand how eagles use habitat, as well as other topics such as interaction with wind farms.”

Alongside the eagle tagging, SRUC researchers are tracking lambs in Argyll with GPS neck collars, building a picture of how flocks and eagles move around the same ground.

What do farmers and crofters say?

Georgia Watson, NFU Scotland’s policy manager for climate, land and business, said: “NFU Scotland supports this satellite tagging project as a vital step towards building a clear, shared evidence base on sea eagle behaviour. For farmers and crofters in affected areas, understanding when and where interactions with livestock occur is critical. This research must lead to practical, targeted management solutions that give farmers confidence that impacts on livestock are being properly recognised and addressed.”

Donna Smith, chief executive of the Scottish Crofting Federation, said crofters were “reporting increased sightings and issues with sea eagles each year”, adding: “Building a greater understanding of how the sea eagles are interacting with livestock will hopefully lead to improved targeting of management measures in the future.”

What happens next?

Tagging will run over two years, with the data reported to the National Sea Eagle Stakeholder Group, which oversees the management scheme for the reintroduced population. Duncan Orr-Ewing, head of species and land management at RSPB Scotland, said gathering evidence on the birds’ behaviour and movements was “essential to create common understanding”, and that “the collaborative partnership approach to this project involving NatureScot, expert researchers, farming representatives and conservationists is very welcome”, with results to be presented “in due course”.

The full announcement is on the NatureScot press centre at nature.scot.