Driving the RSPB’s work forward on crofting is the Regional Director of RSPB North Scotland, George Campbell, the son of an Ullapool crofting family himself, and a former Director of the Scottish Crofters’ Union (now the Scottish Crofting Federation).
“Crofting and conservation go hand in hand. The decline of active crofting represents a threat to biodiversity in general and to key bird species in particular. But where we get it right, as we have, for instance at Balranald in the Western Isles, we can, in partnership with crofters, boost corncrake numbers and increase active crofting at the same time.
“The RSPB Scotland team in North Scotland includes conservation officers based throughout the crofting counties supported by specialist staff based at the RSPB’s regional headquarters in Inverness. Between them, they provide expert support to crofters and farmers wishing to manage their land in an active way whether it is traditional arable activity such as cereals like barley and rye or livestock farming.
“The main instrument we currently use is the Scottish Rural Development Programme which is a major Scottish government fund for supporting rural areas. Applying to the SRDP for funding is quite a complicated business for busy crofters and we seek to help them make applications which help them to improve their businesses while helping us to ensure that wildlife benefits too.”
Bridget England is the RSPB agricultural advisory officer, based in Inverness, who has managed the SRDP application process for the RSPB.
“To date we have worked on about 40 applications and these should generate about £800,000 for crofters and farmers over the next five years. As well as helping to write applications we provide ongoing training for local people to that they can submit applications for their own land and help other people within their township to get in to the scheme.
“The crucial element to make this work is partnership. First and foremost that means working with local land users. But it also means working closely with our colleagues in organisations such as the Scottish Agricultural College and the Scottish Crofting Federation. In Skye, the RSPB has joined with these two organisations to form the Skye Crofting and Corncrake Partnership, which aims to target SRDP funds at active crofting on the island while supporting its fragile corncrake population.
“What we all have in common is that we want to support the development of land management techniques that result in sustainable agricultural activity and an enhanced environment.”