Islay, a summary

It’s all systems go here at the Farm Environment office. We have a lot of work lined up for the coming months, including some work on SSSIs throughout the Forth area, more SRDP applications, and some interesting projects. Last week, I met up with Lisa Webb from the RSPB to arrange some wader surveys for me to do over the next few months. I also went out to my boyfriend’s farm outside Edinburgh to do a full farm survey for them, and have come up with a lot of “tree hugger” options for him and his dad to consider. All those things aside, I thought it was time to update my blog and summarise my visit to Islay with the RSPB.

The mudflats at Loch Gruinart reserve. The flats are an area of controlled flooding behind the sea wall. The water levels are manipulated by the wardens to suit the birds at different times of year.

While on Islay, my time was divided between working with the wardens to carry out surveys and practical conservation work, and talking to the farmers, and land managers about their management practices. Most of my time was spent at Loch Gruinart Reserve, where I was able to spend time with Eion the farm manager, discussing the benefits and limitations of farming on a nature reserve. Most of our conversations took place while tagging calves, running for our lives from mental heifers, and shovelling up a number of unmentionables from the calving pens. Our conversations reminded me a lot of conversations with my father on the farm, or indeed with any farmer. We started off having a pleasant chat, until something went wrong (invariably, a swift kick to the shin from a calf, an escapee bull, or an interfering visitor), and things would quickly descend into a number of expletives being shouted, followed by “Do you see what I have to put up with?!” There is no doubt about it, farming is hard. It is made even harder by the number of rules and regulations which have to be adhered to. As a farmer on an RSPB reserve, Eion has additional rules to stick to. There are literally thousands of geese on his fields, which have munched every last scrap of grass available, so he will have to pile on the fertiliser once the geese leave (about now) to ensure he has enough grass to feed his cows. He is also restricted in his silage cutting dates; he has to wait until the flooded fields are dry enough, and in many areas has to wait until August to ensure he doesn’t harm any nesting birds. However, for Eion, conservation is at the heart of his farm and he enjoys seeing the benefits of his work. He is passionate about what he does and his work really does make a difference to the wildlife on Loch Gruinart.

I also got the chance to carry out a number of bird surveys, mostly trying to learn how to identify the “wee brown jobs”. Farmland birds have seen a massive decline over the last 50 years, so it is important to monitor each species to record any changes, and the RSPB do bird surveys throughout the year. I wanted to learn as many species as possible while I was there so that I would be able to carry out basic bird surveys on farms. It took me a while, but I eventually managed to tell the difference between a flock of skylark and a flock of meadow pipits (both small, brown and speckled!). I also learnt a number of waders including lapwing, redshank, curlew and snipe. I saw a number of wee birds hiding in the woodlands including the stonechat, reed bunting, tree creeper and wren. I also saw a LOT of geese.