Sula Sgeir - The Pick Up

[Seoras]

A year and a half ago I took a trip on the Heather Isle to Sula Sgeir to pick up the lads who had just finished the Guga Hunt. This is a tradition that has been undertaken by the men of my village on the Isle of Lewis for many a year.
They hold a licence from the Scottish Government to do this - more here - The Guga Hunt

 

[Janne]

Excellent.

Important to keep the traditions!

What do the birds taste like? Fishy?

 

[Le Loup]

A year and a half ago I took a trip on the Heather Isle to Sula Sgeir to pick up the lads who had just finished the Guga Hunt. This is a tradition that has been undertaken by the men of my village on the Isle of Lewis for many a year.
They hold a licence from the Scottish Government to do this - more here - The Guga Hunt

I only hunt for needed food, it seems to me reading this article that this food is NOT needed, it is killing for profit & to supply a "delicacy"!!!
Keith.

 

[Janne]

If it is eaten it is food. Delicacy or not.
You do not need to hunt for meat, you can have hens, and a goat.
For eggs, and for milk.
Want meat? Eat the oldest chicken. Or keep a pig.

 

[Robbi]

Maybe it's just me but I thought the handling of the dead birds showed a complete lack of respect.

These days it appears it's just a tradition for the sake of it and profit, it's a ritual slaughter not a hunt for food.

 

[Robson Valley]

Time to visit an abbatoir and participate on the killing floor. Hope you don't get kicked.

In this day and time, looks like a matter of sustained yield.
That allows for the rest of the bird population to have slightly more resources.

 

[Le Loup]

Maybe it's just me but I thought the handling of the dead birds showed a complete lack of respect.

These days it appears it's just a tradition for the sake of it and profit, it's a ritual slaughter not a hunt for food.

Agreed Robbi.
Keith.

 

[Seoras]

I will explain a little more.

Scottish National Heritage monitor and licence the hunt on an annual basis - they monitor bird numbers in terms of numbers caught, how they are caught, how they are dressed and overall population.

Profit wise, the team would be better off staying at home working. The tradition of eating Guga is strong on Lewis (where the majority of the birds are eaten) and the team make very little after all the expenses are paid. They are all hard working men who earn very little and carry on a tradition that is dear to the island. That tradition is part of our identity and my family is part of that tradition.

Normally the birds would be dressed on the island but due to the bad weather some of this had to be done when they got back. There is no disrespect. The dressing of the birds is done in efficient manner so as to preserve them as quickly as possible - you may disagree with me and I respect that right to disagree (I am not going to discuss this further in this thread).

I wanted to share this experience on here as I know many will find the subject interesting.

George

 

[TLM]

Not a necessity any more but probably so in days gone by. I guess the hunt is not a threat to the bird population now but that makes me wonder how that was ensured in the past?

 

[Toddy]

Good to see it, George Thank you for sharing the video.

It's community, it's about the group hunting food to bring home to those no longer able to do so themselves. It's keeping alive skills and that sense of working well with others to provide for the family, and bringing along the young men in their time.

It's sustainable, no one wants to see the bird population crash, and it's carefully monitored and recorded too.

I'm vegetarian, and I have no issues with this kind of hunting. To those who eat Guga it's good food, and it's only really considered a delicacy now because there are so few birds caught and preserved this way these days. It's very much part of the seasonal round of farming, fishing, wildfowling, etc.,

Bird hunts (look up St Kilda for instance) used to be the way to pay the rent on many islands. It's firmly rooted in the economy of the area as well as being a source of protein, etc., especially since it can be stored for use during really bad weather....check out the weather of the Western Isles before you start complaining.

M

 

[bobnewboy]

I think it’s vitally important to maintain traditional practices as part of the preservation of local and national culture. Without our various heritages and traditions the human race would merge into a continuous grey monoculture. I wonder if there would be the same comments for a film about the Sami and their reindeer, or the raising /capture and slaughter of pigs in the Pacific islands? All of what is taken is eaten I’d guess, and so I see no difference in this.

 

[SCOMAN]

Excellent.

Important to keep the traditions!

What do the birds taste like? Fishy?

A colleague who's family always get some doesn't eat it. He tried it one and described it as 'oily, fishy, chicken'. This is part of the culture that endures and I have no issue with it. They do not sing a death song over each bird, they do not put a small fish in each birds mouth after it's killed. However the birds are dispatched quickly and humanely.

 

[Janne]

I have read that in Scandinavia they used to place Sea birds in soured milk ( a kind of yoghurt, widely eaten today) to remove the fishy taste.
Made me wonder if locally they did something similar.

I assume there is a tradition to collect seagull ( +sea bird) eggs in part of Scotland and islands?

Still is in parts of Norway.
Tradition. Culinary tradition!

 

[John Fenna]

Maybe it's just me but I thought the handling of the dead birds showed a complete lack of respect.
.

Have you ever seen trawlers landing a net of fish and processing them?
Take a life with respect - yes.
After that it is just food and we know the process food goes through in our bodies

 

[Tengu]

Ive been to Sula Sgeir.

Its an awfully long way away and a hard journey.

If there wasnt the fine people of Port of Ness doing good ecological work like this, no one would bother to monitor the rock.

Notice the people objecting are city dwellers.

Not naturalists, not politicians.

 

[Robbi]

Bad assumpion Tengu

 

[TLM]

Dipping or keeping something to be preserved in sour milk ('piimä' in Finnish) was a way to start lactic acid fermentation. Works well on cucumbers but marginally on baltic herring. Was a well known preservation method in Fennoskandia.

 

[Janne]

Surströmming is still eaten. I miss it hugely.
That l.a. fermentation is started by the herring’s own gut bacteria, and regulated by the weak brine.

My favourite was, is, and will always be Röda Ulvens.
Not the boneless fillets though, those are for beginners.

I assume you have a similar traditional dish in Finland?

I recall some very nice pickled Brisling I bought from the fishermen in Helsinki harbour.

I assume that in the old days they pickled/fermented those tasty ‘sulas’.

Still done in Greenland, using a different bird ( multicolored beak, flies close to the surface)

 

[forrestdweller]

in 2008 i met a group of Maori heading to Stewart Island to collect mutton birds -- interesting to see how similar traditions developed in areas that far apart...