Highland gamekeepers criticise authorities' 'lack of action' of access abuse
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A new survey has shown that gamekeepers in Scotland feel Scottish Government and key countryside agencies are failing to protect land managers against access abuse.
The survey, collated by Scotland’s regional moorland groups, found that land managers feel they are often fighting a lone frontline battle against criminality, littering, fly-tipping and unthinking owners letting their dogs run amok.
Most respondents also feel levels of ignorance displayed by some access takers at breeding and lambing time shows agencies such as Scottish Natural Heritage and Cairngorms National Park Authority have failed to educate country-goers on what responsible access means.
The news comes as gamekeepers prepare to welcome visiting shooters for the start of the 2020 grouse season tomorrow (12).
Respondents to the anonymous email survey were asked to identify issues currently impacting their ability to do their job in Scotland.
Fears of unemployment forced by government regulation scored high in responses but irresponsible access and rejection of land managers’ knowledge in favour of online campaigns topped the poll.
One respondent said that it was time bodies such as SNH and CNPA took more responsibility for enforcing respectful access, particularly at breeding times, instead of ‘gamekeepers trying their best to protect birds and iconic wildlife and being abused for doing so.’
The disinterest shown by Scottish Government and the Police to vandalism of legal traps and snares by members of the public was cited by all respondents as a major obstacle to day-to-day work.
A number of respondents also said the Countryside Access Code should be part of the school curriculum and that dogs on leads should be compulsory at certain times of the year.
“The informal survey was an attempt to get to the bottom of what grassroots land managers are experiencing,” said Lianne MacLennan, Co-ordinator of Scotland’s regional moorland groups.
“Most gamekeepers are dealing with access all of the time and walkers frequently enjoy the hill roads maintained by estates. That was not identified as a problem. However, the feeling is that the balance has tipped too far towards encouragement of as much recreational access as possible and against thepeople actually trying to make a living in the countryside.
“There is a view that members of the public increasingly feel they can roam everywhere, anytime they want, doing whateverthey like.”
She added: “There is a lot of disgruntlement amongst gamekeepers. That emerged very strongly in the responses. In their eyes, there is an urgent need for independent monitoring of satellite tags fitted to raptors to be carried out and they are tired of seeing what they believe to be dishonesty from conservation NGOs and agencies regarding impacts of expanding numbers of predatory species.”
The survey asked over 100 gamekeepers for opinions on changes they feel are necessary to make a difference to their working lives.
Some responses were also received from individual land owners.
A further source of anger was the perception that decision makers, today, were too influenced by keyboard campaigns and ignored time-served land managers with centuries of knowledge.
One respondent said it was humiliating that gamekeepers’ practices were increasingly being dictated by ‘people behind a desk with no practical experience.’
Gamekeepers also felt the monopoly held by the RSPB in the minds of politicians ought to be open to greater scrutiny, given the perceived lack of results on the charity’s own nature reserves.
One respondent said: “I shall never forget an outing to RSPBAbernethy - wandering about for most of a day, all we saw was one thrush (flying overhead on its way somewhere else) and a buzzard. The only item of interest was a roe buck shot out-of-season in the game larder.”
