I have to say, being a Natural Talent apprentice is never dull! In the last fortnight I have gone from overseeing pond digging in West Lothian, to learning how to do bird surveys on the beautiful island of Islay.
Loch Gruinart Reserve on Islay, what a place!
While Tony and Rory (my mentors at FWAG) are setting up the new business (the Farm Environment), I felt it was time to go out and get extra experience. So after some discussions with Tony and John, I decided to come here to Islay. My Uncle is the Reserves Manager over here, so I have volunteered here in the past, but it is interesting to see the Reserve with new “Natural Talent” eyes.
There are 3 RSPB reserves on Islay, the Oa, Loch Gruinart and Smaull Farm. All of the reserves are managed primarily for birds, but all are also active farms. It is an ideal spot to learn about how the birds and farmers interact, and some of the things I have learnt are surprising. Firstly, it is great to see farmers so involved and interested in the birds on their farms. All the farmers are tenant farmers, and lease the land off the RSPB. They therefore have certain management agreements about the grazing, cutting and fertiliser use on the land. Secondly, it is interesting to see just how much the birds rely on farming. There are many birds that need grazing to take place to shape their faboured habitat. One of the rarest birds here on Islay is the chough (pronounced “chuff”, hence the title, chuff, get it?!) and it relies on invertebrates which it finds in cow manure in closely grazed fields. They nest in old barns and ruined houses, and are fascinating to watch. Today I have been out with one of the wardens, stealthily creeping up on the chough in a very conspicuous landrover to try and read their leg rings! Nearly all the birds are ringed to record when and where they pair off and breed, and this will be one of my jobs while I am here.
Chough country! They feed on the grazed areas along the mudflats, and nest in the barns and ruins nearby.
Another bird which relies on specific farmland habitat is the corncrake. The corncrake winters in Africa, but summers all over the UK, mostly on agricultural land. There has been a huge decline in corncrake numbers due to the changes in agricultural practice, mainly the earlier silage cutting dates which obliterate nests and chicks. On Islay, there is a corncrake management agreement with the tenant farmers, and other farmers off the reserve land have also signed up. They have agreed not to cut their silage before the 15th August and to cut in a certain way to allow chicks to escape. On the Reserves, the RSPB have also planted some corncrake corridors, areas fenced off and planted with quick growing plants such as nettles. The corridors are usually grazed late autumn to prevent the grasses from going rank.
I have also been learning about the goose management on Islay, as there are literally thousands of geese wintering here. The barnacle geese and white-fronted geese graze winter crops and grass fields, causing a considerable amount of damage for farmers. The farmers are compensated for their agricultural losses, and once the geese leave (around mid-April) they frantically start applying fertiliser to get the yeilds they need to feed the cattle in the winter. The farmers are working to a tight time-frame and the weather conditions on the west coast make farming here considerably difficult.
I look forward to the next three weeks here, I feel I am learning a lot and feel very inspired by what can be done with a little thought and negotiation. It shows that understanding farming is essential for Scottish conservation, and without the cooperation of the farmers who manage our land, we would struggle to conserve all the wonderful species we have here in Scotland.