Goose management scheme enters fourth year

A project to manage the resident greylag goose population in Orkney has this week entered its fourth year, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) has confirmed.

The Orkney greylag goose adaptive management pilot allows licensed shooting to take place, with experienced local guns, in August and September before migratory birds from Iceland arrive in October. SNH has said that this will keep the population down to reduce impact on farming, while preserving the species’ conservation interest.

Resident greylag geese in Orkney have increased over the past 20 years. The goose count in August 2014 recorded 22,911 birds. Geese taken as part of the pilot project will be recorded and numbers monitored in summer. The scheme also sees wild goose meat sold through licensed sellers in the county.

Gail Churchill, SNH’s Orkney operations manager, said: “We undertook this work to respond to the concerns of local farmers and land managers. Last year 6,525 resident greylag geese were shot and the target for this year is 6,600. In succeeding years, this number will reduce as the population decreases. The work will be undertaken by experienced local shooters following established best practice methods, and overseen by Scotland’s Rural Colleges staff.

“This active management work will help us meet our nature conservation obligations by maintaining a sustainable and stable resident greylag goose population. It has the support of the British Association for Shooting and Conservation (BASC) who will be working closely with all of us involved in this new form of adaptive management control.”