A Scots farmer claims giant sea eagles are threatening to put him out of business because they keep killing his sheep.
Richard Rennie estimates that last year almost 300 lambs on his farm were slaughtered by two breeding pairs which earlier this month took down and killed a fully grown ewe.
The white-tailed eagles, also known as sea eagles, are protected by law in Scotland making it an offence to kill or injure one.
But the 37-year-old Argyll farmer, who took over 2,500-acre Garvachy Farm, near Lochgilphead, from his father-in-law six years ago, said ‘in reality they are putting us out of business’.
Mr Rennie and wife Kirsten say they made a loss of £24,000 during the last year financial year as a direct result of eagle attacks on their stock, with at least 280 lambs ‘slaughtered’ so far in 2024/25.
They are now looking to diversify as the ‘sheep-side of the business is no longer viable’ and believe more needs to be done to control their numbers.
Mr Rennie said: ‘We just don’t know where to go from here. We’ve tried indoor-lambing… but as soon as we turn them out onto the hills it’s just a massacre.
‘We made a loss of £24,000 last year. Everyone thinks the numbers we cite are ridiculous. But if you get four eagles killing one lamb each a day over 50 days that’s 200 lambs.’
He added: ‘In 2022 there were four juveniles [eagles] and five ewes were killed in eight days. The birds took it in turns to dive down and grab at them.’
The raptors – which can grow to have wingspan of up to 9ft – have also approached his dogs and he believes ‘it’s only a matter of time’ before one of them ‘gets killed’.
Experts from NatureScot have been working with Mr Rennie to try and encourage the birds away from his livestock, including putting out a feeding station with deer carrion.
But Mr Rennie said: ‘They just fly right over it.’
And he said the problem is ‘they don’t come back to the same carcass, they kill another the next day’.
In 2021 when the couple lost 220 lambs, he said officials visited the site and after ‘raiding the nests’ DNA testing confirmed they had consumed a number of prey, including lambs.
He said that year they put 65 sets of twins out in the field and by the end of the season they had lost 94 out of that 130 as a result of the birds.
Mr Rennie added: ‘We know they were fit and healthy lambs, but as soon as they were out in the park they were just hammered.’
The ongoing problem came to ahead this month when he discovered one of his fully grown ewes had been attacked and killed when he went to check on his flock. He said the body was ‘still warm’ proving that the eagle had not found the animal already dead.
He said there was also evidence the eagles had killed other protected species including herring gulls, red grouse, black grouse, and barn owls, as well as stags and pine marten.
NatureScot said it and the Scottish Government recognise that white-tailed eagles ‘can cause economic impacts to farms and crofts in some locations’.
A spokesman said: ‘We are working closely with Mr Rennie at Garvachy and are aware of the predation issues there.
‘We have recently begun trialling a diversionary feeding approach on his farm, which is additional to the SEMS [Sea Eagle Management Scheme] support.
‘We have not yet successfully attracted the birds to the food provided, however we will continue to collaborate with Mr Rennie to explore further practical options.’
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