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

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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!

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.

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 !!!!

what about the hen harrier got any of them

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.

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!!!

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.

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? 🤔

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.

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

V sad, a waste….land.