Following the submission of a proposal for a reintroduction of six adult lynx in the Kielder forest, spanning Northumberland and the Scottish Borders in July, Lynx UK Trust announced this week that it will begin consultation on a second project in Scotland.
 
The new consultation will focus on Argyll and Inverness-shire in the Scottish West Highlands. The Trust has been in discussions with landowners about a trial reintroduction of Eurasian lynx in Argyll and Inverness-shire for 12 months.

Lynx are medium-sized predatory cats. They disappeared from the UK over 1,000 years ago, and saw their numbers and range decimated in mainland Europe up until the 19th Century. However, the cat has been making a recovery since the 1990s, and has returned to the forests of France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, the Czech Republic and northern Italy through reintroductions or cats recolonising mountainous areas across national borders.

Making its announcement, the Trust said a reintroduction could bring down deer populations, which are high in Scotland; this has led to damage to forest habitats and restricted forest regeneration. Lynx mainly prey on deer, which they stalk and ambush in wooded areas.

Commenting on Wednesday, Lynx UK Trust’s scientific advisor Dr Paul O’Donoghue said a reintroduction could help ailing species like the capercaillie, numbers of which have dropped as low as 1,000 individuals in Scotland. Dr O’Donoghue said,“This is a classic example of the negative impacts that come with removing species like the lynx from an ecosystem. Over development and climate are certainly having an impact on capercaillie but the elephant in the room is the exploding pine marten population. It's fantastic to see them doing so well, but too much of anything creates imbalances, and they have a big impact on capercaillie by stealing their eggs. Pine marten overpopulation is a direct result of them having no natural predators in the ecosystem.”

According to Dr O’Donoghue, lynx would control deer by direct predation but also by influencing behaviour; the threat of predation keeps deer herds moving through a forest, spreading out their browsing sustainably. Similarly, he said, lynx presence around pine martens should influence them to spend less time on the forest floor where they find capercaillie nests, and could also reduce predation from foxes.

Consultation underway in ‘largest potential lynx habitat in UK’

Consultation has already begun with major landowners in the region stretching from Loch Lomond and the Trossachs, just 30 miles from Glasgow, into the West Highlands and Great Glen. These landowners include Ewen Maclean, a member of the Maclean family which owns and manages the Ardgour estate, covering 30,000 acres in the Western Highlands.

“I think it's a progressive and exciting discussion to have about protecting our forests and native wildlife” Mr Maclean, said. “We’re very supportive of any effort to rebalance the natural environment. I think this is something that can bring a huge benefit to our forests and add to the fantastic eco-tourism offering already in the region; we have some of the best wildlife in the UK here, having the lynx back home amongst it would be wonderful.”

The local consultation process in the Kielder region took just over 11 months, before an application was submitted to Natural England.

However, sheep farming groups have fiercely opposed the proposals in Kielder. In July, when Lynx UK Trust submitted its formal proposal for a reintroduction, Phil Stocker, chief executive of the National Sheep Association said, “NSA has been strongly opposed to what Lynx UK Trust is calling a pilot release since its inception, with serious concerns around the way the organisation conducted its consultation process to questions around whether current law would even allow such a release to take place.

“Clearly NSA is opposed to lynx because of the predatory threat the species pose to sheep, but our argument is far more wide reaching than that. The subjects of food security within an uncertain climate, protected species status and land use balance are subjects that need fully debating and pulling together. Any piecemeal sanctioning of small projects which are part of a much wider debate that has not yet been properly conducted would be irresponsible and inexcusable. It is almost inconceivable that once released the lynx would ever be removed and therefore we don't accept this is a pilot project, it is a release.”

In July, Stocker, who has also claimed that farmers would be able to shoot any lynx they believed could be worrying their sheep if a reintroduction goes ahead, commented, “This country is a very different place to what it was 1,300 years ago and NSA does not believe we have enough largescale, suitable habitat to support the minimum population of 250 lynx that is needed for true genetic sustainability. Animal welfare and disease biosecurity, as well as unconsidered changes in ecology if we were to see pastoral farming decline, also present huge problems. We stand to lose the beauty of an area like Kielder if farming, grazing and human activity cannot continue as it has done for centuries in this area.”

Commenting earlier this month, after the Lynx UK Trust proposed to divert funds from an eco-tourism centre, which could be built to capitalise on the planned reintroduction in Kielder, to a sheep welfare plan, NFU countryside adviser Claire Robinson said, “Our biggest concerns would be the impact on animal welfare and safety of livestock. The Kielder Forest is a remote upland area dependent on sheep farming and our fear is that these predators would prey on lambs.

"We have not seen any evidence that there are adequate plans to mitigate this concern and there is no evidence that lynx will stay within woodland or forestry. The proposals to monitor impacts on sheep is not acceptable.

“The NFU will continue to engage with Natural England, the licensing body, in order to raise our members’ serious concerns.”

Nevertheless, on Wednesday, Lynx UK Trust’s Dr O’Donoghue highlighted that the area in Scotland could potentially hold more lynx than the Kielder site. He said, “Everyone knows Scotland has phenomenal potential for lynx. Most of the UK's forestry is here in the Highlands and, critically, most of it is very well connected so a lynx population can spread naturally through it over a process of many decades. We know this area really well and we're hugely excited to explore the idea of further lynx trial reintroductions here with the local community. Imagine how amazing it would be to hop on a bus in Glasgow and be in lynx habitat half an hour later.’’