It was a day of mixed emotions at the Scottish Parliament yesterday where some of us gathered to watch proceedings relating to the Wildlife Management & Muirburn Bill in what we thought would be it’s final day of scrutiny before being passed.
There was an air of excitement as we congregated outside before the debate started and two peregrines zooming around above the Parliament building was seen as a good omen.
Once inside it soon became clear that the Parliament would, frustratingly, need additional time to complete its consideration of the Bill. Given that a decision had been made that all the lodged amendments for Stage 3 of the Bill would be heard, debated and voted upon, it inevitably turned into a marathon six hour session in the afternoon, not finishing until just after 8.30pm.
Many of the arguments put forward by the Conservatives in a desperate last-ditch effort to weaken the Bill were predictably ridiculous and a lot of it was just a rehash of the same old arguments that were heard during the various evidence sessions last summer and then again at Stage 2 a few weeks ago. It was tedious to have to listen to so much drivel all over again although it was appreciated as being a necessary part of the process so that the grouse shooting industry can’t later claim that the process had been unfairly cut short.
You can watch the archived video of proceedings here and you can read the transcript here:
If you want to enjoy a laugh-out-loud moment, I’d encourage you to turn to page 67 and read Conservative MSP Rachael Hamilton’s contribution on the subject of whether Red-legged partridges and Pheasants could be released on grouse moors to replace Red grouse as an alternative quarry species (spoiler alert – she doesn’t think it would happen, completely ignoring the clear evidence that it already is).
Minister Jim Fairlie’s response to Hamilton on page 71 is very encouraging. He indicates that if other gamebirds are released for shooting on grouse moors, where a licence for shooting Red grouse has already been refused, this could be viewed as an attempt to exploit a loophole and result in new, nationwide legislation that would impose a licensing regime on all gamebird shooting, not just on the shooting of Red grouse.
It’s disappointing that we now have to wait until Thursday (21 March) for the Scottish Parliament to vote for the final time and pass this Bill, although as someone told me yesterday, we’ve waited for so many years that another 48 hours isn’t going to make much difference.
The final (short) debate and subsequent vote has been scheduled for Thursday afternoon at around 3pm in the debating chamber. It’s not expected to take much longer than one hour. You’ll be able to watch proceedings live on Scottish Parliament TV.
Meanwhile, here’s a message from Chris Packham on the significance of this new legislation:
Raptor Persecution UK 
A big thankyou to everyone who is committed and relentless work at last some good news . Nice of Chis to thank and recognise your passion and hard work Ruth with all your sterling work to bring raptor persecution to the fore all this is happening truly amazing.
A momentous day! A great summary by Chris Packham of the long and tortuous route to achieve the passing of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill. Chris thanked the many politicians that supported the fight against raptor persecution along the way. I can’t help thinking, had Donald Dewar not been taken from us prematurely, we might have been here sooner. Well done Ruth! Well deserved acknowledgement from Chris. Thank you Ruth for all your efforts.
I watched the tail end of this debate and as you point out Ruth , “tedious ” was how it ended , with Conservative MPs struggling to make a point that had any relevance . I look forward to the final debate on Thursady with a bottle of fine malt whisky to hand to celebrate ! Perhaps Mr Carbo can retire now !
From the road between Innerleithan and Edinburgh (a commuter rat-run through the Moorfoot Hills) masses of released Red-legged Partridge and Pheasant can be seen on the moors managed for driven grouse shooting. The Red Grouse are thriving beyond natural capacity, the Black Grouse appear to be in terminal decline. Management for Red Grouse does not necessarily benefit even Black Grouse. This is in Rachael Hamilton’s constituency, she needs to get out more or stop misrepresenting established facts.
I watched it all on my laptop which made for a long day. It got a little confusing for me at times due to the use of numbers as opposed to names when the time to vote arose.
To be honest I thought Rachael Hamilton was a little out of her depth at times and the longer it went on the more evident it became. Ed Mountain was more or less a one man band. While, unlike Rachaer, he was extremely well briefed but had a poor hand while hosting an attitude that knew defeat was on the cards. It was in complete contrast adopted by most Conservative who tend to be extremely arrogant when in a winning position.
Much might rest on how it is implemented and discussions of that nature are not open to the public, as far as i know. I adhere to Bentham’s theory that if you know you are being watched you behave better as accountability is always a possibility.
I know that a lot of people have put in a lot of time to get to this point, but – for my part and from what has managed to cross over into my life and forced me to take notice – no-one has done more than Ruth… A giant, standing on the shoulders of other giants, no doubt.
We await Thursday…
I did chuckle a bit at Rachael. Let down by whoever had briefed her, I would say. Her genuine support of the shooting industry has been evident but sadly all the way through this thing she has seemed ill at ease and less than competent when talking specifically about bird and wildlife species and their habitats. Good at playing with words though – at 16:16:49 I liked the bit beginning with “…the experience of sustainability harvesting them [grouse] for the food chain…” I think she just meant that some people pay a lot of money to shoot a lot of driven grouse and this is a good thing.
Good on Jim Fairlie for giving short shrift to the pro-snaring argument. Truthfully and plainly said. And now almost certainly to become law. Brilliant.
Ruth – your outstanding work and that of your colleagues clearly has had an impact – judging by the discussions.
I was furious when Edward Mountain started on about stops and swivels preventing strangulation and photos of foxes hung by snares tangled on fence lines were so unrepresentative. Poor gamekeepers! Fortunately the Scottish government has finally seen through the nonsense.
Good riddance to snares!
Yes he was talking shite – although narrowly correct to imply they shouldn’t be set close to fences, guess what – they were, they are, and perhaps always will be by some as fencelines are a great area to catch foxes on . But nevermind that an animal can (and they do) just as easily severely damage itself on the brash & branches and tree trunks that are typically part of most snaring operations in woods or thick cover. Now I wonder are the used and unused snares and unused hardware currently in Scotland likely to head south of the border to related estates in England e.g. ones that are under the same owner / agent / manager, or among keepering friends circles, etc. Be interesting to keep an eye out for any increases in snare efforts on the English side.
it’s been a long, hard,incredibly determined slog by Ruth,what a woman. Clone her and wipeout all wildlife brutality in the UK at a stroke.
In awe as always.Thank you.
So sad this bill is too late for Shalimar a tagged hen harrier released in Angus glen is missing tag and body not found awful sad hopefully this license revoking will help if the law is upheld. Just read this report .