CHARLIE WHELAN: The Law of Unintended Consequences and the demise of capercaillie
It was fascinating to read in the Strathy that wildlife crime officers are to increase patrols to stop disturbances of the endangered capercaillie during the breeding season.
I wasn’t aware that we even had any wild life crime officers in the area.
When I tried to contact one to report the illegal stealing of rare Freshwater Pearl Mussels from the River Dulnain I drew a blank.
Of more interest to Strathy readers may be reports I have heard from my snout on a local estate of the death of three capercaillie at the hands of recently released wild cats.
Now I don’t suppose anyone will admit to this as it’s too embarrassing just as it was too embarrassing to admit that wildcats have been responsible for attacking hen houses.
I don’t like to take sides in the often toxic debate about reintroduction of extinct species but people have to recognise that there can be some unintended consequences.
In this case the reintroduction of wild cats may actually lead to the second extinction of capercaillie - another reintroduced species.
It is also worth pointing out that protecting the capercaillie costs a hell of a lot of money that may be better spent elsewhere.
Many of us are horrified at the decline in the number of curlews in Scotland and will be interested to hear that in Orkney numbers are on the up.
That’s because there has been a concerted effort to get rid of the stoats that eat ground nesting birds and eggs.
When I was on the island last year you couldn’t move anywhere without seeing a stoat trap.
Any gamekeeper will tell you that if you can control the predators then a species may survive.
Unfortunately for the caper it has far too many now for not only have we decided to increase them we rightly refuse to get rid of others including the protected pine martin.
Perhaps we should concentrate more on getting rid of species that don’t belong here like the mink and on that note I can report healthy numbers being caught in the Spey catchment last year though alas none in my mink trap on the Dulnain.
Local uprising
It’s great to see that there has been a local uprising against the plans for a hydrogen plant on the Spey near Arberlour.
This so called green energy plant would mean the abstraction of 500,000 litres a day from the river threatening not only wild Salmon but also pearl mussels.
So far there have been more than 160 objections to Moray Council and just four letters of support. The people have spoken.
It’s time to ditch this unwelcome plan in what is supposed to be a special area of conservation.
I couldn’t stop laughing
I see that local MSP Fergus Ewing is not going to be the SNP candidate for the Highlands at the next Holyrood elections.
That’s hardly surprising as he has disagreed with almost every policy the Nationalists have come up with.
As his party have lurched to the left he has remained firmly in the ‘Tartan Tory’ camp.
Like so many politicians Fergus loves the limelight and also like so many wants to go on for ever so when I read here in the Strathy that he is ‘seriously tempted’ to run as an independent I couldn’t stop laughing.
Fergus has no intention of retiring. He will be standing yet again but this time without all the baggage of the SNP except in one important area, he still believes that Scotland should leave the United Kingdom.
Charlie Whelan (Labour) is former spokesman for Gordon Brown
