Findhorn Bay Wildlife Watch

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Voluntary Arrangement for the shooting season 2016-17

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The Steering Group of Friends of Findhorn Bay recently had to make an important decision about the petition to ban shooting. It had been made clear to us by the Council that a ban on shooting would require a byelaw. The Council also told us that they would not be prepared to consider implementing a byelaw, as it may be a contentious process, entailing a process of consultation and a public enquiry, which is unaffordable at this stage. The Council said that it will consider a byelaw only if there is prior agreement among all parties on the terms of the byelaw. Even if the Council would investigate the possibility of a byelaw, it would not be put in place in time to have an effect on the coming shooting season.

Instead, the Council proposed a mediated meeting between the petitioners (i.e those in favour of a ban, and those who want to keep on shooting) in order to find a compromise as a point of departure. We agreed to take part in the negotiations, which were held on 8th June and we have reached a ‘compromise’ in the form of a voluntary shooting arrangement, which will be tested over the next season. The shooters present at the 8th June compromise talks assured us on a number of occasions during the 5-hour long meeting that they had the support of a large proportion of the shooting community to negotiate a compromise agreement.

It is important to see this ‘compromise’ in the right perspective:

(a) The ‘compromise’ does not represent our ideal. Our ideal is to have no shooting in the Findhorn Bay LNR.

(b) The ‘compromise’ is the only mechanism that can make an impact on this coming shooting season, which starts on 1st September. If we did not agree to an arrangement, there would be no intervention at all with regard to this shooting season.

(c) The ‘compromise’ is being regarded as a test that will run for one shooting season. At the end of the season it will be reviewed. Lessons learned from the experiment will be discussed at the review meeting and the relevant parties will try to find a sensible way forward. By agreeing to test the ‘compromise’ during this shooting season, Friends of Findhorn Bay does not waive its right to have the shooting ban petition formally considered by the Council at a later date. However, it enables us to explore all possibilities and, importantly, it enables us to remain involved in the process to address the issue of shooting in Findhorn Bay.

(d) The ‘compromise’ does not represent our view of a fair and workable compromise that could serve as a template for the future. In the negotiation process we did our best to reach an agreement that would be fairer and that would better reflect the identity of Findhorn Bay as a Nature Reserve, but the negotiations were inhibited by the fact that the shooters had to agree to any arrangement. The current ‘compromise’ is the absolute maximum change in the status quo that the shooters were prepared to accept. The ‘compromise’ does however entail a number of restrictions on shooting during the coming shooting season, which is a much better scenario than the status quo, in which there are no restrictions at all. The key restrictions are listed below and the full compromise document and a map showing restricted areas can be viewed here.

1. The no-shooting zone on the East side of the Bay is extended southwards to Line 1.

2. There will be no shooting on the East side of the Bay up to Line 2 after 10am.

3. The principle of ‘no-shooting days’ is accepted. In addition to the extended no shoot zone, on Mondays and Tuesdays there will be no shooting at any time in the South-East corner of the Bay between Points B and C.

(e) If our ideal cannot be realised in the foreseeable future and we have to settle on an interim arrangement that would improve the current situation substantially but also accommodate shooting in some form, such a compromise will have to be fairer and entail much more than the current ‘compromise’. It will probably be discussed at the review meeting with the Council at the end of the shooting season.

We have been asked to encourage our supporters to respect and implement this agreement during the 2016-17 shooting season. We have also been asked to request that our supporters “refrain from harassing or impeding shooting participants while those engage in their lawful sport”. Note that the agreement states that this term “should not be interpreted as any kind of assertion or acknowledgement that such harassment has, to date, taken place”.

We very much hope that our efforts over the last 9 months will lead to an improvement in the situation this season.

 

 

Walk in the Bay on Sunday 29 May at 4pm.

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As part of Biodiversity Week we are going to have a guided walk in the lesser known South Eastern area of the Findhorn Bay Local Nature Reserve. Steven Hull will introduce us to the plants, animals, birds and insects that we may encounter in Findhorn Bay. We are leaving from the car park at Kinloss Church at 4pm and will return to the Church for tea and coffee afterwards. In case of poor weather, there will be a slide show in the Kinloss church hall  of some of the species living in the Nature Reserve. Everyone is welcome. Please bring your wellies and, if possible, binoculars.Findhorn Bay 038_1_1

Local Voices for Peace on Findhorn Bay

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IMG_3757If you have read any of our previous blogs, you will know that Friends of Findhorn Bay is advocating for a ban on shooting in the Findhorn Bay Local Nature Reserve. There has been some speculation locally as to who signed the formal written petition that was submitted to Moray Council by Friends of Findhorn Bay on 21st December 2015. The petition calls on Moray Council to end the shooting of geese and ducks in the Nature Reserve for a number of stated reasons.

As a result of this speculation, we decided to look a little more closely at the 800+ signatures on the shooting ban petition signature lists, to see where local support for a ban is coming from in the Moray Council Ward 8 (Forres) area. We restricted signature collection to Ward 8 specifically, because it covers the area most affected by the shooting. The results of our analysis are set out below.

The 2011 Census records 748 residents of Kinloss village and 776 residents of Findhorn aged 16 and over. This is a total of 1524 adult residents in Findhorn and Kinloss – the villages located closest to Findhorn Bay and hence the people most disturbed by the shooting. Note that due to the formalities of the Moray Council petition process we were only able to collect signatures of residents who are actually registered to vote in this area.

Here is the breakdown of petition signature locations and numbers who signed:

A total of 811 signatures were gathered in Moray Council Ward 8 (Forres) between 15 November and 20 December 2015

Location                    No. of Signatures

Kinloss Village             140

Kinloss Southside      114           Total Kinloss: 254 signatures (34% of adult population)

Findhorn Village         101       

The Park, Findhorn   113           Total Findhorn: 214 signatures (28% of adult population)

Forres                              267

Others Nr Bay              18          (eg Netherton, Broom of Moy, Dyke)

Others in Ward 8        58

So in terms of the percentage of voting residents living closest to Findhorn Bay who are in favour of a total ban on shooting in the Nature Reserve, this is approximately 34% of the population of Kinloss and 28% of the population of Findhorn. Around 12 people collected signatures, either going door to door or passing the petition around at various local events. We did not manage to go to every household by any means, but of the houses we did visit, we found that around 90% of the people we asked were in favour of a ban on shooting in the Findhorn Bay LNR.

I personally asked about 25 individuals in Findhorn village and only 2 people did not want to sign the petition – in other words 92% signed. Another Friends of Findhorn Bay member and long-term local resident of 30+ years, who collected many signatures in Kinloss, reported “I must have spoken to over 150 people about the petition. I could count on two hands the number of people who have said “no” to signing, and on one hand the number who have spoken up for the shooters. Many people feel very passionate about this issue“. So his “signature collection success rate” was 90%.

This is a significant number of local people in favour of a ban, by any elected official’s reckoning. My sense from these numbers is that if Moray Council tries to ignore or make light of this issue, the voice in favour of a ban is only going to get stronger and more active. 

IMG_3412And it is important to note – this movement calling for a ban covers a wide cross section of the public, from all walks of life and of all ages. This is not a “fringe” movement. It is a large group of people who would like to see Moray Council honouring the purpose for which the Findhorn Bay Local Nature Reserve was originally set up – to be a place “where people can come to experience, enjoy, learn about and get involved with nature… a Local Nature Reserve should be a signal to the public that this is somewhere to experience nature” (extract from SNH Report No 174 on Local Nature Reserves).  At the moment, this is not possible for almost half the year, due to the presence of people shooting geese and ducks. See this short video of the shooting to get a sense of what is happening on a regular basis in the South Eastern corner of Findhorn Bay during the 6 month shooting season.

https://youtu.be/guzdd_aPDqc

The presence of men with shotguns, and their often antisocial and disrespectful behaviour so close to residential areas acts as a strong deterrent for anyone else who might wish to enjoy the natural beauty of Findhorn Bay. What Friends of Findhorn Bay would dearly love to see throughout the year is Findhorn Bay as a place where people can experience the wonders of nature, in a peaceful, enjoyable and “leave no trace” way.

Shooting Status Quo “Untenable” says Richard Lochhead MSP

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IMG_2910 (2)Two recent visits to the Findhorn Bay Local Nature Reserve by Richard Lochhead MSP on 21st January and John Finnie MSP on 5th February have helped to raise the profile of the campaign that is calling for a total ban on shooting in the Findhorn Bay Nature Reserve, with Richard Lochhead declaring the current situation “untenable” and John Finnie supporting a total ban.

There is still much work to be done to achieve a ban, as there are two hurdles to cross. The first is the fact that some key persons are stating that they prefer a byelaw that regulates the shooting rather than a ban. In other words, the way in which they intend to ‘regulate’ shooting will not address the core problems and the current situation will not change significantly. The second is the rolling out of endless excuses by Moray Councillors and civil servants who say that enacting a local byelaw is simple too costly and time consuming to pursue. These excuses have been in abundance since 2005! Budgetary constraints are an issue everywhere of course, but usually, where the political will exists to make something happen, it happens – so money is not really the core issue. This is why local residents need to make it clear that they will no longer tolerate shooting for sport in the Bay and that the Bay and the people living around it should be respected.

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Here is a compilation of the current problems on the Bay, put together by a Kinloss resident who regularly walks in the Southern end of the Nature Reserve, often when the shooting is going on. If this catalogue of misfortune does not clearly show why a ban on shooting is the only sensible way forward, we are not sure what will…?

Two of our local Ward 8 Councillors, George Alexander and Aaron McLean, sit on the Moray Council Committee that will make the decision on 8th March whether to:-

  1. Support a byelaw that bans shooting altogether,
  2. Support the continuation of shooting with a byelaw that allows for a shooting permit system, or
  3. Continue to do nothing at all.

So if you want to see change, it is very important to let Mr Alexander and Mr McLean  know in writing how you feel about the shooting.

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Supporting the continuation of shooting with a shooting permit system could easily result in no change to the status quo. The usefulness or otherwise of such a permit system would depend entirely on where shooters are allowed to shoot, how many shooters are allowed at any given time, how many days per week they are allowed to shoot, and at what times of day. In the current proposal the possibility to restrict shooting to certain times and areas is ruled out and there will be no limit on the number of local shooters per day. Furthermore, with a shooting permit system there is no way to ensure the competence of any shooter who applies for a permit. Hence, there could easily be a continuation of the current incompetent shooting practices. These inexcusable activities are resulting in many injured and dying geese and goose carcasses being found around Findhorn Bay and in local neighbourhoods, not to mention a lot of noise disturbance to local people.

Anyone who has seen the 13th November proposal for a shooting permit system, submitted by the current Chair of the Findhorn Bay LNR Management Committee to Moray Council, will realise that his commitment is to support the minority wildfowling community, by maintaining the status quo as far as possible. This is not going to be acceptable to the non-shooting majority of users of the Nature Reserve, and it certainly will not be acceptable to the 800+ IV36 residents who signed the petition demanding a total ban on shooting!

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Must a minority ‘sport’ be tolerated in a Nature Reserve, when it has such a negative impact on other potential Nature Reserve users and on the wildlife that lives there, purely because it has been happening for generations? This is one of the arguments levelled by the pro-shooters, and even by some leaders, but it is a flawed argument of course. We could cite many things that were done for generations, but which are outlawed today. As an example, it would be inconceivable for a right-thinking person to say that domestic violence should be tolerated simply because it has been ‘practiced for generations’.

We hope and trust that our local Councillors will do the right thing for Findhorn Bay.

 

Help us Ban the Shooting in Findhorn Bay Nature Reserve

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With 5 weeks to go before Moray Council considers the petition to ban shooting on Findhorn Bay, it is really important that we continue to press the point that shooting is a totally unacceptable activity in a designated Nature Reserve, especially near to the well-populated residential area of Kinloss.

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Over 800 people living in the IV36 area of Moray signed the shooting ban petition late last year and it will be considered by the Economic Development & Infrastructure Services Committee at Moray Council on 8th March.

The main arguments in favour of a ban are available to view in the Petition Submission.

Meanwhile, our latest Friends of Findhorn Bay Newsletter provides contact details of the relevant Moray Councillors and local MSP, Richard Lochhead, so that you can contact them easily and quickly.

We need your help to ensure that the voice for peace on Findhorn Bay is heard loud and clear!