Loch Lomond Islands – Woodland Herbivore Impact Assessments

Description

NatureScot in conjunction with Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park (LLTNP) require Woodland Herbivore Impacts Assessments of the Southern islands on Loch Lomond; to be clear, these are: 1. Inchmurrin 2. Creinch 3. Torrinch 4. Clairinch 5. Inchcailloch 6. Inchfad 7. Inchcruin 8. Buccinch 9. Inchmoan 10. Inchconnachan 11. Inchtavannach 12. Inchlonaig The method that must be used is the WHIA which can be found via the Woodland Tool box link: https://www.forestry.gov.scot/publications/1480-the-woodland-herbivore-impact-assessment-method-user-guide NatureScot require the consultant to conduct the WHIA, analyse, and report the findings. NatureScot/LLTNP will supply a boat and skipper to ferry the consultant between the islands. Due to boat availability we need to be very specific about the dates that these WHIA will be conducted. We only have access to the boat between 2/3/26 till 13/3/26. All 12 islands need to be completed within this timeline. Historical WHIA contracts have demonstrated that this timeline is realistic. This timeline excludes weekends, i.e. we have the boat for up to 10 weekday working days. The boat will leave Duncan Mills Memorial Slipway at 09:00 returning around 15:15 for the duration of this contract. All PPE for boat trips will be supplied. This work will feed into the ongoing deer management across these southern islands. Lot 1: The Loch Lomond Islands hold one of the few fallow deer populations in Scotland. Deer are free to swim from island to island and to the mainland, with fallow populations also present on the East mainland near Balmaha and the West mainland near Luss. It is assumed immigration and emigration occurs within the fallow deer population naturally at specific times of year and/or due to disturbance. Whilst NatureScot monitor the population density, it is imperative that we monitor the habitat to assess the level of impacts from these deer. Some of the islands have additional herbivores (livestock; horses; wallabies) and their impacts should obviously be included within the survey. These 12 islands are designated in their own right: Loch Lomond SAC; SSSI; L.N.R; S.P.A; and N.S.A (refer to Annex G). The main designated features are: Upland oak woodland, Western acidic oak woodland, Wet Woodland and Raised Bog. NatureScot are looking for a suitably qualified consultant to conduct a full WHIA on the 12 southern islands. We expect the Helen Armstrong WHIA method to be used (https://www.forestry.gov.scot/publications/1480-the-woodland-herbivore-impact-assessment-method-user-guide/viewdocument/1480). For clarity, WHIA is required on all 12 islands to be conducted within their woodlands. The islands all vary in size, therefore on some larger islands it’s possible to do up to 10 ‘stops’; whilst an island like Buccinch may only have space for 2 ‘stops’ at most. Please note: Some of the islands are inhabited to varying degrees throughout the year. It is extremely important that the islands and their landowners are treated with respect. (a) Some of these islands may have ‘wild campers’ present throughout the year. (b) Inchcruin has a holiday home on it, and this may be in use by the landowners. (c) Inchfad has several small holiday cottages that are in use at different times of the year. (d) Inchlonaig is like Inchcruin in having a holiday home present. (e) Inchtavannach has slightly more infrastructure and a family living on the island all year round. (f) Inchmurrin has a community (several small holdings; restaurant etc) families living on it the entire year-round. The contract requires production of an electronic report to the format specified within this Statement of Requirement (see Annex C). The contractor will use the most up to date version of the WHIA process to undertake a survey and write a report on the herbivore impacts on these islands. The Report should include such information as the below: - Field Sheets for each survey point. - Map of the spatial pattern of impacts – e.g. structure class and /or impact level at each WHIA stop. - Any Historic herbivore impacts identified. - Signs / presence of different grazing animals at each stop. - Species lists for each survey point. - Record cover of dominant plant species. The final report, maps, all relevant GPS data and any other agreed items are to be provided in electronic format (fully compatible with Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel). The mapping should be done onto 1:10,000 OS backdrops. NatureScot and LLTNP will supply a boat and skipper to ferry the consultant over to and between islands for the duration of the contract. The contract value is less than GBP50,000 so this is not considered a 'regulated procurement' as set out in the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014. It is being advertised to reach a wider potential field of candidates. Full details are set out in the Statement of Requirements document attached to this notice.