RSPB Scotland manages over 72,500 ha across 79 reserves, making up about half of the RSPB’s total UK land holding. Many of our reserves in Scotland are on legally protected sites: this means nature is protected from damage and there are also obligations to manage protected sites in the best way possible for nature. As we face a climate and nature emergency, there is a significant opportunity to make Scotland’s network of protected areas better for wildlife and to enable key habitats to thrive.
Effectively managed protected sites are vital for delivering the target to protect 30% of Scotland’s land for nature by 2030 in a meaningful way that will help nature recover. Whilst progress has been made to improve protected areas in Scotland, there is still much to do to ensure Scotland’s best nature sites are well managed and effectively monitored to meet urgent climate and nature targets.
Through funding from the LIFE programme of the European Union, NatureScot and other funders and partners, LIFE 100% for Nature has enabled us to trial and implement innovative conservation techniques across 11 reserves, carefully selected for their internationally important wildlife and habitats. The project aims to not only improve biodiversity on RSPB Scotland reserves, but also to share evidence, techniques and learnings to promote use of conservation practices within wider protected areas that will benefit nature, climate and people in the long run.
One of the RSPB Scotland reserves included in the LIFE 100% for Nature project is on Oronsay: located in Scotland’s Inner Hebrides, neighboured by the islands of Colonsay and Islay, and home to a suite of Special Protected Areas (SPA) for breeding chough. Unfortunately, chough numbers in Scotland are low due to numerous factors including competition for available nesting sites, and low first year survival rates. The LIFE 100% for Nature project on Oronsay focusses on enhancing conditions for breeding chough by creating alternative artificial nesting sites and aiming to reduce medication in sheep dung, which can benefit invertebrates like dung beetles.
Image credit: Martin Yelland
Sheep, and other livestock, are an important part of island life on Oronsay, in particular for chough, as they graze the grass to keep it at an optimum height for the birds to forage. Sheep are also vital as their dung provides an important food source for chough, who use their iconic orange bill to find invertebrates in the dung of livestock: having a healthy herd of sheep to graze the grass on RSPB Scotland’s Oronsay reserve is vital for chough to flourish across the wider SPA.
To ensure health and welfare of the sheep, medication to prevent and treat for worms, fluke and blowfly are used. Some of these medications are excreted in the dung, and if present at certain levels can prevent it from being colonised by invertebrates; the adverse effect of livestock veterinary medicines on dung invertebrate abundance is well documented through scientific evidence. The LIFE funding has enabled us to purchase an up-to-date sheep weighing and identification system. This allows us to keep more accurate records over extended periods of time, with a ‘personalised’ record for each sheep’s weight and medical history. This means we can move away from routine worming and each sheep is given precise doses of medication, when needed, to keep it healthy and ensure no ‘wasted’ treatment. RSPB Scotland already uses best practice management approaches for livestock, and this new system enables us to bolster our knowledge about the flock and further enhance sheep welfare as a result. At the same time, it is reducing our reliance on expensive medications.
Image credit: Hannah Sharratt
“I think more and more the farming and conservation community are realising the impact of the meds we put on the ground, and how much of a food source the dung can be.”
– Hannah Sharratt, RSPB Scotland Oronsay Warden
The new equipment has been in use for two years and is having many positive impacts, although the long-term effect on dung invertebrate densities isn’t yet known. Nevertheless, so far the approach has enabled us to reduce the amount of medication used on the flock; from 5,501 ml of wormer used in sheep on Oronsay in 2019 to 741 ml in 2021, demonstrating the positive impact of the equipment.
Along with the benefits for chough and wider biodiversity on Oronsay, this approach is predicted to have several benefits:
In time, we ultimately hope the measures trialled on Oronsay will enable chough to breed on the island again. RSPB Scotland works directly with farmers and crofters to support them to manage their land for nature. We are keen to support other farmers and land managers interested in trialling the sheep weighing equipment for their own flocks and will offer the equipment to farmers and crofters based nearby on an assisted basis.
Image credit: Amy Millard
Through sharing knowledge and experience, it is hoped that others will realise the benefits of using a weighing system in their own operation, and in turn more accurate use of medication can benefit the wider area of habitat for rare birds and other wildlife. Projects such as this are vital to show what is possible through transformative land management and conservation techniques to protect and enhance species across Scotland’s protected areas to contribute to vital nature and climate targets at a national scale. However, it is also essential to ensure that the policies and funding which support farmers encourage nature- and climate- friendly farming practices across the whole of Scotland. RSPB Scotland are working with partners on the Farm for Scotland's Future campaign to ensure that new Scottish Government policies support nature friendly farming practices through a fair and sustainable funding system. Learn more about the wider impacts of farming on nature and how we believe it plays a role in tackling the joint nature and climate crisis by reading our blog here.
You can watch a short film about the project on Oronsay here, and also keep up to date with other developments across the LIFE 100% for Nature sites here.
Further reading
Gilbert et al (2019) "Livestock Management in Red-Billed Chough Feeding Habitat in Great Britain and the Isle of Man". Rangeland Ecology & Management, 73(2), pp.216-223.
McCracken and Foster (1993) "The effect of ivermectin on the invertebrate fauna associated with cow dung". Environmental Toxicology and Chemisty, 12(1), pp.73-84.
Beynon et al (2012) "Species-rich dung beetle communities buffer ecosystems services in perturbed agro-ecosystems". Journal of Applied Ecology. 49(6), pp.1365-1372.
Header image: Clive Walton