Meeting of the Parliament 11 February 2026 [Draft]
I can give some more intelligence to the chamber on the golden eagle saga. When I was first elected to the chamber, I moved very quickly in order to become the species champion for the golden eagle, and I was lucky enough to be successful in that regard. In that role, I was also invited to the Moffat eagle festival and even got to be taken to the secret golden eagle release site that Christine Grahame described in her speech, where I was given a behind-the-scenes look at how golden eagle reintroductions work. However, once I was appointed Minister for Green Skills, Circular Economy and Biodiversity, it was felt that I should support all endangered and threatened species, and I had to, as it were, release the eagles. In April 2024, I once again had the opportunity to be a species champion, only to find that Christine Grahame had gotten in there and grabbed the golden eagles in my absence.
I am delighted to say that I am now the species champion for the endangered northern damselfly, which, in the UK, can be found only in the Highlands, where it is restricted to sedge-fringed lochans, which means small ponds with sedges, reeds and grasses around the edges. For the past two summers, my husband and I have volunteered on the site of special scientific interest for northern damselflies at Tombane farm in Perthshire, where invasive Sitka spruce trees are encroaching on the damselfly ponds. We enthusiastically, if amateurly, have a go at cutting down these trees and dragging them away from the ponds. As neither of us is qualified to use a chainsaw, we have to use small hand tools to do so, and we can clear away the smaller trees in that way. That allows us to give space and light back to the damselflies.
At the same time, since farmers began putting up fences to keep deer out, we are able to identify and protect the seedlings of native trees such as Scots pine, birch, oak and rowan, which can now regenerate, and we hope one day to have a thriving Caledonian pine forest at the top of the hill. Gordon and I have a competition each year to see who can locate the most tiny baby pine trees among the moss and grasses. He always wins, but I put on record that that is because he wanders off uphill to look for them while I am sawing up trees and dragging them away from the ponds—he is not here to contradict me. When we sit down to take a break, it is absolutely magical to see the colourful damselflies zooming about over the ponds and resting on the reeds and grasses.
Self-seeding Sitka pose a real danger to Scotland’s rare wildlife and habitats by spreading from commercial tree plantations to sensitive habitats and there is a real question about who should pay to undo the damage that is being done. We have a lot to do to protect northern damselflies and to improve and restore their habitats. I thank the British Dragonfly Society and everyone else who works hard for that beautiful species.