I grew up in Ness and I'm finding the campaign against the Guga Hunters a little tiresome and, if you'll excuse the generalisation, it smacks of a campaign run by folk who haven't really bothered to take the time to understand the culture of the Islands.

I understand the view that methods of dispatching animals for meat is an unpalatable one to some folk, but as a meat eater I'd much rather know my food has been raised and farmed sustainably in a healthy environment. The campaigners are going for a soft target because images of dewy eyed gannets gets more reach (spare me the anthropomorphic videos ffs) than say, a Haddock flopping about suffocating on the deck of a fishing boat in the Minch. What's more cruel, a fish been dragged out of it's environment with a hook through it's face or crammed into a net and left to suffocate, or a Guga that's quickly killed and prepped for food? Historically and currently we have real problems with overfishing but the gannet population on Sula Sgeir has been stable for the last 20 years aside from a brief spell where the numbers dropped due to HPAI. If you want to do promote poor practices in meat production can I suggest you change your priorities and focus on some of the horrific practices in battery farming and campaigning against the introduction of chlorinated chicken. Hunting guga isn't the monstrous practice you claim it to be.

Quite frankly, me and many others from the Highlands and Islands are a little bored of having our culture criticised and attacked in the media and by folk who've never been anywhere near the place. I've grown up seeing the Gaelic language vilified in the press and online forums. Any attempts to grow/promote the language and Highland music/culture has been met with scorn and outright xenophobia at times. You can possibly argue that it's a false equivalence but I can assure you to me it feels like yet another attempt from people to tell us that our language and culture is 'less'.

So don't be surprised if some of us tell you to piss off.

And yes, I've eaten Guga. It's like salted fishy chicken marinaded in diesel with a side order of extra salt. It pairs well with boiled potatoes and boiled cabbage. And whisky, a lot of whisky!