Gamekeeper Returns To Langholm Moor

[@MrPh30]

It will bring good balance to the wild lands with a keeper around and the whole eco system will thrive so much better

[@head-Keeper]

Langholm moor, the sacrificial lamb to the slaughter. It might have been worth it if the evidence of this eco system disaster was acknowledged but due to this present government and its lackeys it will be replicated throughout every Scottish moor. RIP Scotland’s countryside.

[@bert97276]

Channel owner why delete my comments again? what is needed is fair and proper discussion. Or is it true this is just propaganda channel !

[@bert97276]

Any comment I put certain words in relating to shall we say people who wear tweeds on 12th gets deleted however polite I say it . Why ???!!!

[@geraintjones5288]

Great video and the first thing that comes to mind again is “Unfortunately it’s not quite that easy” 😤

[@gileso8475]

Does any one know who's watching this of any statistics that are available for the song bird populations within towns now that any predator control is strictly taboo ?? With what seems an incredible number of cats, foxes, badgers, crows and magpies I now seem to have an incredibly quiet garden. I'm not looking to start an argument but would at least like to have a statistically correct and informed knowledge ion this. This video is absolutely what I expected but towns don't seem to have much published info on what's going on in them. Great piece of informed and balanced film work. Well done.

[@stefenney3126]

My garden regularly gets visited by Magpies, Sparrowhawks, Carrion crows, Herring gulls, all to the detriment of the song bird population. When mentioned, all the nature lovers say how wonderful, such a diversity of wildlife and the presence of such predators shows that the song bird population is healthy enough to sustain predation. What they don't realise, is that the predators will continue to kill song birds until the last one has been taken, only then they will move on to another area.

[@PapaTube-ep1nk]

I have an incredible town garden full of bird life and bird song, I have nil predators visiting my garden for some reason my two cat hating Springer Spaniels take care of that chore and I take care of the rest of the vermin.

[@paddydoyle4234]

There was scientific studies done in major towns such as Manchester on blackbird nest predation, type it into Google and it should come up.

[@darencartwright5912]

Jamie,s words "I cannot hear anything !", here in Wales that,s how our uplands are, no predator managment leads to a "predator sink". Curlews despite being long lived are circling the drain, and there were more Lapwing on that one field than there are in central Wales. Just hope the Scottish government does not do the same to Scotlands ground nesting birds, but with there track record, one fears the worst.

[@freeforester1717]

They’re the problem, not the cure. Scottish ministers are biggest landowners in Scotland, yet their preferred managers of FLS lift not a finger to conserve ground nesting waders, nor indeed any other vulnerable species. All lands outwith their forests and landholdings are basically barren owing to predation from within their borders and total lack of predator control. Shameful.

[@thomasmoore5949]

The restoration of our countryside will be a process, rather than an event. And bringing the former ecological criminals back to the scene of their crime will help no one!

[@THE_ECONNORGIST]

👏 👏 👏 💥

[@darencartwright5912]

And how are you going to restore our countryside , thomasmoore ?, and who are these "ecological criminals"?

[@alanpeachey4085]

In Australia we have a lot of foxes but our biggest problem is wildcats of course they make devastating damage to burl. They are cunning. They are difficult to trap and they take a long period of time to set up so you can actually get all of them that are in a group, we don’t want to miss anyone especially Wildcats so big in Australia down under

[@TheClashen]

Great Video guys. The reason I am saying that is my attention to this area came about by watching a video in which the nature reserve managers were interviewed, I just got more and more annoyed as I watched it. Even watched it again with my wife as I wanted to make sure I was not being unkind to them. My gripe was it was a sales pitch with no substance, I just got the impression if the interviewer had just asked searching questions that would scratch the surface polish there would would be no knowledge in depth. They didn’t come across as SQEP for the job as they lacked the E. As people trusted to do any job get more experienced and understand their subject matter in depth they are able to discuss a mater looking highlighting there always compromises that have to be made if you are looking at the pros and cons to any action taken. That was not the case with the other video. As Thomas Sowell stated “there are no solutions only trade offs” the problem you have guys is the decisions now a days are made by politicians who think they know what they are talking about after an Sunday afternoon walk along a designated path, unlike my own father that had worked in agriculture his whole life. I for one want to see more content like yours. So please keep up the good work backing up your argument with facts whilst highlighting that compromises have to made so the system as a whole can flourish.

[@callumhepworth-smith6376]

Great video with evidence of how to make a real mess of things when all the promises were "of big things" Oh how this proves the damage done !!!!

[@struanmills5710]

3 years is not enough time to prove anything. Landscape management are long terms projects. I'd recommend looking at Mar Lodge as good example of a long terms to landscape restoration. Interestingly enough the estate is split in two to show how a traditional sporting estate can work alongside nature conservation. It doesn't have to be a them versus us approach which is very divisive and in my opinion not very constructive.

[@callumhepworth-smith6376]

@@struanmills5710 ...Not even when you can see the damage already having an effect????? Who is going to continue to fund the project over such long periods??? Itys already running thin on funds ...Or is it just going to be left unmanaged??? yeh great idea...

[@struanmills5710]

Can you please explain what damage is being done? My understanding is that Tarras is aiming to be financially sustainable & are developing their own financial income streams. These will take time to develop. They will also bring more jobs, which is positive to hear as Langholm wants this to help retain younger people to the village.

[@callumhepworth-smith6376]

@@struanmills5710 That is absolute rubbish... You clearly havent spoken to any of the Langholm people... - More jobs??? Not a chance, doing what? - Revenue steams?? Why are they still asking on Go Fund Me and volunteers to lift the self germinated spruce trees... - Where have all the wild birds gone? Eaten by predators - The heather will be totally gone in a few years loosing all the grouse that were there. - How many jobs will it create? one or two if they dont go bankrupt by then, or asking MORE in donations!!! Its a sham

[@bert97276]

Channel owner - pleased explain what is your reason for deleting two of my (reasonable and polite) comments?

[@purplemonkeyelephant]

It's a propaganda channel, what do you expect

[@Stevieblakloks82]

It’s too early into this project to be critical once it’s under restoration then have a look there still all the standing dead zones of Sitka that are an ecological desert

[@musket.50]

At least when it goes up in flames there won’t be anything living there anyway! Then what they will get a grant to plant trees most likely!!!

[@johnbrown3951]

That was a very informative and thought provoking insight into the Scottish Countryside. I was in a past life twenty five years ago a keen game shooter and Salmon angler and took a great interest in my local estates and the workings of them. I was very friendly with a number of Game Keepers and Bailiffs and regularly toured estates watching wildlife and protecting wildlife from Crows and Foxes. We as a Country need to find a balance in re wilding, Countryside Access and pest control and the powers at be need to listen to the guys on the ground i.e. the Gamekeepers as they are the ones that know how to look after our heritage not politicians or guys in suits based in London. Surely in this example it would have made sense to keep on the Keepers and re task them as Land & Game custodians rather than move them on. One of the Estates I shot over was handled by a Trust as the Land Owner had died and even though good parts of it were deemed a triple SI it was still run as a shoot for guests of the previous owner managed by a local keeper with an abundance of ground nesting birds, raptors and some grouse on a small moor due to effective vermin control. I liked and subscribed and look forward to future content. I felt empathy with that young keeper looking over his former patch being mismanaged by it's new custodians that have decimated it of the birds they were trying to nurture.

[@timrobinson2984]

what about the hen harrier got any of them

[@timrobinson2984]

sorry for last reply

[@Wyrm1701]

Well, Langholm demonstrates quite clearly that "community management" basically doesn't work. For this sort of thing to work, you effectively have to duplicate the conditions for running a grouse moor, including the alternative income for when there are too few grouse to harvest by shooting. The stark reality is that Scotland has hundreds and hundreds of square miles of low fertility land that is of next to no use to farmers, and which generates next to no income for anyone who owns only a few hectares of it. The Scottish Government, seemingly unsatisfied with making a great steaming, stinking mess of their cities and towns, would appear to be lining up to do the same with the countryside as well. As a government they're basically pretty crap at their job and show few signs of improvement. Few people would really care about this endless meddling of theirs if they were any good at it and delivered great outcomes, but they're not at all good; very much a case of the inverse Midas effect.

[@bert97276]

I dont like the way its being undermanaged now. And i didnt like the way it was keepered in late 80's before the demonstration project. It was a persecution estate for donkeys years lets nobody pretend it wasnt. But i liked it during demonstration project where it was well managed within the law. Had two visits in that time. The balance was righ and legal. But in that time it was said to be economically unviable as they had fewer grouse to shoot than other rival moors. To me that was the painful truth and the main takeaway from the whole saga, not the sad neglect it might be in now. Elephant in the room question, is what must the other moors be doing to achieve economicly viable big bags, that Simon Lester and his capable lads werent doing? No prizes for guessing.

[@bert97276]

Why have my other comments been deleted?

[@outoftownr3906]

@@bert97276how very dare you accuse them of non legal persecution

[@purplemonkeyelephant]

What did all these ground nesting birds do for millions of years before gamekeepers existed to kill all the predators en masse and burn the heather? 🤔

[@irishtrapper1961]

For millions of years, there was natural habit for all the animals to live in. Now man has taken that habit away and has only left small pockets of natural habit. Predators thrive in the overpopulated world, were as song birds and the majority of other species don't .

[@timhoward5863]

There were far fewer of them. They thrived in a small number of areas where there were either few predators or those predators were in some way controlled. The information presented in this video is not new-we have known about the positive effects of land management for years. Trouble is, you won't hear about this from the likes of Chris Packham upon whom you doubtless rely for your understanding of nature.

[@purplemonkeyelephant]

@@timhoward5863 Wow, you have curlew population numbers going back thousands and millions of years? I'd love to see that source

[@naturestimeline]

They certainly didn’t have millions more people around back then. They were better educated then on the countryside and how it was and still is necessary to maintain both habitats and species populations by legal means. Now despite me being a townie myself I do realise I don’t have to tell people from the countryside how to do their job whilst still enjoying the countryside and its wildlife.

[@purplemonkeyelephant]

@naturestimeline Millions more people? I think you misunderstood my entire post. I'm talking about a time when the 'countryside' didn't exist and people hadn't turned every bit of Britain into concrete or artificial green spaces

[@inigogamboa3463]

I am not going to be too mean because at the end of the day it has to be sad to learn skills which are outdated and of no use nowadays. The problem with this video is that reality and facts are undeniable and Tarras Valley Nature Reserve has just released that this year numbers are really good. The results of last year’s national Hen Harrier Survey demonstrated a steep regional population decline of 32% across the Southern Uplands and of four Special Protection Areas (SPAs) designated for hen harriers in this region, they were only breeding successfully in one - Tarras Valley. And wait for it. Without predator control and without gamekeepers. 😂😂😂😂😂 I know you desperately want the Tarras Valley Nature Reserve to fail, but at least you should wait until they have a bad year to publish videos like this. Good luck!

[@cliveclerkenville2637]

Odd use of language. “Community Buy Out”. The community appears to care less.

[@oliverlambert9083]

V sad, a waste….land.