There is a month each summer when greylag geese cannot fly. They moult their flight feathers, and for a few weeks are grounded. On Orkney, humans take advantage of the geese’s vulnerable state and start culling them en masse.
The birds are herded into pens on shore. Once penned, they are killed by cervical dislocation. The neck is stretched until the vertebrae separate and the spinal cord is severed from the brain. The practice is called corralling.
In July, the Scottish Government published meeting minutes of the National Goose Forum, a Scottish Government body that brings together the organisations involved in goose ‘management’. This particular meeting was chaired by the Scottish Government, with NatureScot providing the secretariat, while four other NatureScot staff attended. Bird conservation bodies RSPB and BTO sat round the table, as well as shooting and farming interests, and representatives of Local Goose Management Groups.
Alastair Watston, of Orkney Local Goose Management Group, stated:
“Corralling is proving an efficient method allowing large numbers of geese to be culled – 1,200 geese in a single morning.”
Asked about the method, NatureScot told the Daily Mail corralling is
“a humane and efficient method for controlling geese.”
In 2025, Orkney killed 4,052 greylag geese. 2,489 were shot and 1,563 were slaughtered by corralling.
Watson stated:
“Control efforts are keeping a lid on numbers but are not bringing the population size down.”
At the meeting, Tiree and Coll’s Goose Management Group announced that it plans to attempt corralling, learning from the experiences on Orkney, while Islay discussed using the method (even though corralling isn’t achieving its desired outcome on Orkney). More corralling is likely to have happened this summer - within the last few weeks when birds have been moulting - although there is currently no public evidence published.
In the minutes, NatureScot stated that it has allocated £700,000 to local goose management groups around Scotland for greylag ‘management’. In the Uists, that money pays shooters £8 for every goose shot. The legal permission comes from NatureScot too: General Licence GL02/2026 permits the killing of greylag geese year round.
NatureScot exists to look after Scotland's nature. But it has licensed the killing, funded the killing, provided the secretariat for the forum where the killing was reported as a success, and then described the method as humane.
NatureScot is currently consulting on the general licences that permit wild birds to be killed without needing individual permission. This is the same licensing system that allows this monstrous greylag slaughter. The public consultation is open to anyone, not only to shooters and land managers.
The organisations that use these licences are actively encouraging their members to respond. If the only people who reply are the ones doing the killing, the licences will be written for them.
Please take two minutes to fill in NatureScot’s general licences consultation.
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