Findhorn Bay Wildlife Watch

Campaign News

Winter Season Report 2017-18

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We hope you have had a restful and restorative holiday and a good start to a new turn around the sun. We want to sound a big thank you for your continued support this last year!

We have now entered the last phase of the voluntary shooting permit trial for Findhorn Bay for the current shooting season. Just to recap, this has been negotiated and put in place by the Findhorn Bay Local Nature Reserve (FBLNR) Management Committee. The shooting season started on 1st September 2017 and runs to 20th February 2018. For those who have not seen it, details of the current permit system, the areas where shooting is permitted etc, are on the FBLNR’s website fblnr.org.

The geese have seen surprise support from Moray Council this year: Moray Council have prohibited shooting on their land above the Mean High Water Mark – they erected signs at all the entry points to their land in the Southeast area of the bay. The map on the signs shows that this means shooting in the Southeast of the bay north of Kinloss Burn is only allowed from the mudflats.

In addition to this, from 1st December 2017, the FBLNR have posted new signs below the Moray Council signs, asking for no shooting from 1st December to 20th February in the Southwest corner of Findhorn Bay, in order to protect nationally important wading bird species while they feed before their breeding season.

Findhorn Bay is a small nature reserve, and apart from tens of thousands of migrating geese, it is home to swans, osprey, various kinds of duck, and protected waders like the curlew. The shooting disturbs all creatures around the bay who live here, whether permanently or temporarily.

Sadly, shooting has continued beyond the times, days and areas agreed, or even permitted. Prohibited or protected areas have been ignored by a number of shooters and police had to be called, and shooting on Sundays was also recorded.

Only about 18 permits have been applied for. While BASC (British Association for Shooting & Conservation) supported it, local shooting associations and SACS (the Scottish Association for Country Sports) have opposed the voluntary agreement under the flimsy excuse that applicants’ data would not be safe with the FBLNR, even stating that the FBLNR secretary was biased against shooters. None of this is true. Throughout the negotiations the FBLNR has done its best to hear and take into account both sides impartially.

Most early mornings at least one member of the FFB Steering Committee went out onto the bay to observe shooters’ placing and behaviour, to take photos, and to report on rubbish left behind by them. During the 2016-17 shooting season over 1400 empty cartridges and wads were collected – all plastic and metal which would otherwise have been washed out to the sea and endangered marine life, as unfortunately it continues to do this season.

As oceans have enough plastic to deal with already, it is important that we prevent more of it from being washed into the bay, which it will be with each next spring tide, even if left on the foreshore. This year our key rubbish collection volunteer has been unable to collect the cartridges and wads, so we encourage everyone to take a bag with them when walking around the bay and collect any cartridges, wads or other rubbish they find.

It would be extremely useful if the bags with wads and cartridges could be passed on to the FFB Steering Group (contact us via: findhornbayfriends@gmail.com) together with the date and location collected, so that we can record how much rubbish there is still being left lying around. As well as records of shooting activity, especially on agreed no-shoot days and any other incidents, records of rubbish left behind by shooters is useful to know for our report to the Council.

If collecting it is physically hard to do but you have a camera, or maybe even just on your ‘phone, it is helpful to photograph any rubbish you see and send this in an email with time/date/location to your Moray Council councillors (click on the names for their email addresses), and Richard Lochhead, MSP: Richard.Lochhead.msp@parliament.scot.

The rubbish left behind by shooters is a silent but nonetheless powerfully negative side-effect of their activities, just as the noise and danger from their shooting badly affects animals and humans.

At the end of October residents distributed 500 flyers to households around the bay asking for support with monitoring the voluntary agreement, with information on who to contact, with councillors’ publicly available email addresses (see above), and the police number for such cases (101).

It seems continued diligent work will be necessary for a positive outcome – either a stringent bylaw, or an outright ban on shooting here. Any kind of help you can give is most welcome.

On a very positive note, 4th November saw us having a tea and cake gathering in the newly built Pavillion in the Southeast area of the bay, which is accessible across the small bridge just north of Kinloss. It was wonderful to see so many of you there connecting with others who they had not met before and all of whom want the very best for the wildlife around the bay.

Again, thank you for your support and please look out for our future events.

If you would like to help in any way please get in touch at: findhornbayfriends@gmail.com!

Friends of Findhorn Bay Steering Group

Voluntary Shooting Scheme Introduced

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A shooting permit system has been put in place for Findhorn Bay by the Findhorn Bay Local Nature Reserve (FBLNR) Management Committee for the forthcoming shooting season, which started on 1st September 2017 and runs to 20th February 2018. Details of the permit system, the areas where shooting is permitted and how to apply for a permit are on FBLNR’s website:

The permit system is the result of many months of negotiations led by Roy Dennis, Chair of the FBLNR Management Committee. Local and national shooting groups participated in the negotiations, as well as local ornithologists and conservationists, and members of the citizens group, Friends of Findhorn Bay (FFB). FFB represents the views of more than 800 local people who signed a formal petition to Moray Council in late 2015, asking for an outright ban on the shooting of geese and ducks on the Bay.

Lisa Mead, lead petitioner and steering group member of FFB said, “This is a step in the right direction, which FFB went along with in the hope that it will bring some relief to the dire situation on Findhorn Bay during the next shooting season. Since Moray Council had no appetite to pass a byelaw to ban the shooting, we have sought to find middle ground. We argued for 3 days per week with no shooting at all, in addition to Sundays, which is already a no shooting day in Scotland. Unfortunately, we have ended up with only one extra day of no shooting, on Mondays. We will go along with this for the coming season, however we feel it is still unfair to local residents, especially those living in Kinloss, who will still be woken up extremely early in the morning by shotgun fire, 5 days per week for 6 months of the year. I don’t think the people who shoot here have any idea how upset local people are by their actions. There are many hundreds of people who just don’t want any shooting here at all.”

Adrian Hutchins, convener of FFB added, “I very much hope that the voluntary permit arrangements will bring some improvement to the situation, however we have said all along that what is needed is a local byelaw to regulate or ideally ban the shooting. That still needs to be put in place and so we urge the Council to face their responsibilities and get on with passing a byelaw.”

Moray Council – Findhorn Bay is a NATURE RESERVE Not a Shooting Range

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14124392_10155226420193475_306729370609650692_oThe FFB Steering Group sent the following in an email to all 14 members of Moray Council’s Economic Development & Infrastructure Services Committee (ED&IS) today. If you wish to make your feels on this issue known before the Committee meets on 20th Sept 2016, you will find all the relevant Councillors email addresses at the end of this blog post. These email addresses are freely available on Moray Council’s website – we have simply collated them in one place for your ease of use.

Dear Councillors of the ED&IS Committee

Demonstration Supporting Peace on Findhorn Bay

In case you did not see the papers last week, on 31st August over 70 local people held a peaceful march from Kinloss to the Findhorn Bay LNR to mark the last day of peace before the shooting season starts again.

We need you to know that we cannot and will not accept an outcome that maintains the status quo of no regulation of shooting on Findhorn Bay. That would be entirely unacceptable to us and a slap in the face to the 811 Kinloss, Findhorn and Forres residents who signed the petition calling for a ban on shooting in the Findhorn Bay LNR last December. 

The Clear Need for a Legally Enforceable Solution in the Form of a Byelaw

The inability of the shooting community to agree on voluntary shooting restrictions that meet all of their differing personal preferences clearly points to the need for a legally enforceable solution. In relation to the passing of a byelaw:-

  • We are entirely fed up with the “no money” argument that Moray Council has repeated for over 10 years now. Public safety must be prioritised when deciding how to fill the hole in the budget;
  • We cannot understand why every other significant estuarine LNR or NNR in Scotland already has a byelaw in place to control and reduce shooting, whereas Findhorn Bay does not (and note that this is precisely why more and more people are coming to Findhorn Bay to shoot – because it is like the “Wild West”, with no regulation whatsoever);
  • We do not accept that the fear and cost of possibly having to hold a public enquiry is a reason for not promoting a byelaw – the Council needs to take a stand and promote a sensible byelaw – there are many examples of sensible solutions that shooters abide by already in place in Nature Reserves all over Scotland;
  • We are sick of hearing the extremely lame excuse that “the Scottish government could veto a byelaw”. The fact is, every single byelaw in Scotland has to be approved by the Scottish Govt, and there is absolutely no reason why ScotGov would veto a byelaw, provided it is within the powers of the local council to enact. Moray Council clearly has statutory powers either to ban or to regulate shooting on Findhorn Bay, by virtue of Section 20(2)(b) & (c) and Section 106 of the National Parks & Access to the Countryside Act 1949.

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We have called for a ban because we believe that this would be the best possible outcome for local people and for the wildlife on Findhorn Bay. It would also be in alignment with the actual objectives of the Local Nature Reserve, which are education, conservation and the wellbeing of local people. At the moment a large area of the Nature Reserve is little more than a shooting range for 6 months of the year. The Council is jeopardising the rights and safety of the many, for the misdirected “rights” of the few.

At the very least we need a byelaw that significantly restricts the areas where people can shoot, and the days of the week when people can shoot. Limiting shooting to just a few days per week would enable the promotion of goose and other bird-watching during the incredible migration of thousands of pink-footed and greylag geese each year. Note that goose-watching alone is an activity that both BASC and RSPB agree would bring in far more income to the local economy than shooting currently does (see their joint 1998 report Geese and Local Economies in Scotland).

Overview of the Main Problems

Currently local people’s wellbeing is significantly disrupted throughout the 6-month shooting season because:-

(i) they are woken up before dawn by loud shotgun fire near their homes, which carries on intermittently throughout the day and night on every day of the week except Sunday, and

(ii) they feel uneasy and reluctant to venture into their own Local Nature Reserve for six months of the year, because they fear bumping into men with shotguns, wearing camouflage outfits and balaclavas. Kinloss village may be next to the Army base, but soldiers are not in the habit of walking around carrying shotguns and wearing balaclavas over their faces. 

There are also the problems of plastic cartridge and other litter being left behind by shooters, goose carcasses being found regularly around the Bay and in residential areas, as well as the use of illegal lead shot, which is potentially lethal to wading birds in wetlands. Note that between 300-500 Red-Listed Curlew roost and feed on Findhorn Bay during the shooting season. They are situated very close to where the majority of the shooting takes place in the South Eastern and Southern areas. 

Ongoing Safety Concerns

As a final point, we have put you on notice a number of times now about the Health & Safety concerns that arise from people using shotguns in a local recreational area, and in the vicinity of residential housing. We have grave concerns that if the Council does nothing to resolve the problems on Findhorn bay, the issue will simply escalate and become even more confrontational. Someone could easily get hurt or killed if this happens. This is most likely to happen on Moray Council’s own land in the South East corner, where the majority of the shooting takes place. We don’t know how to get through to you on this point – are you waiting for an accident to happen before you finally do something?

There are so many reasons for a byelaw – we urge you to take a stand on behalf of your local Ward 8 constituents and not to give in to pressure from the national shooting lobby, which clearly does not give a damn about local people’s well-being, or the well-being of the Findhorn Bay LNR. 

Yours faithfully, 

The Steering Group

Friends of Findhorn Bay

This email was sent to all ED&IS Committee members:

Councillor Aaron Mclean (Ward 8 – Forres, SNP), George Alexander (Ward 8 – Forres, Ind), Gordon Cowie (Deputy Chair, Ward 3 – Buckie, Ind), Gary Coull (Ward 2 – Keith & Cullen, SNP), John Divers (Ward 7 – Elgin City South, Labour), Graham Leadbitter (Ward 7 – Elgin City South, SNP), Fiona Murdoch (Ward 1 – Speyside Glenlivet, Ind), Pearl Paul (Ward 1 – Speyside Glenlivet, SNP), Ronald Shepherd (Ward 2 – Keith & Cullen, Ind), Dennis Slater (Ward 5 – Heldon & Laich, Ind), Sonya Warren (Ward 3 – Buckie, SNP), Allan Wright (Ward 5 – Heldon & Laich, Cons) and Committee Chair, John Cowe (Ward 5 – Heldon & Laich, Ind).

Their email addresses are: aaron.mclean@moray.gov.uk, george.alexander@moray.gov.uk, gordon.cowie@moray.gov.uk, gary.coull@moray.gov.uk, john.divers@moray.gov.uk, graham.leadbitter@moray.gov.uk, fiona.murdoch@moray.gov.uk, pearl.paul@moray.gov.uk, ronald.shepherd@moray.gov.uk, dennis.slater@moray.gov.uk, sonya.warren@moray.gov.uk, allan.wright@moray.gov.uk, john.cowe@moray.gov.uk.

It was also copied to the two other Ward 8 – Forres councillors, Anne Skene (Ind) and Lorna Creswell (Ind). Their email addresses are: anne.skene@moray.gov.uk, lorna.creswell@moray.gov.uk.