The Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024, which received royal assent on 30th April 2024 (here), is the long-awaited legislation that introduces a licensing scheme for red grouse shooting in Scotland.
It was introduced as the Scottish Government’s response to the continued widespread illegal killing of birds of prey on grouse moors. It will work on the basis that all red grouse shooting must now be licensed in Scotland and if, on the civil burden of proof (i.e. the balance of probability) sufficient evidence is found that the licence has been breached (including evidence of illegal raptor persecution), the licence can be withdrawn as a sanction, preventing the shooting of red grouse on a particular estate for a given period.
This is a significant improvement on the previous situation, where grouse-shooting was mostly unregulated and the evidence required to secure a conviction had to meet the higher threshold of the criminal burden of proof (i.e. beyond reasonable doubt), which was near enough impossible to achieve given the remoteness of the crime locations and the lack of witnesses. Even when a gamekeeper was successfully convicted, the shooting estate rarely suffered any consequences and red grouse shooting could continue as before.
As part of the Wildlife Management & Muirburn Act, two new Codes of Practice are being developed to support the new law – a code of practice for grouse moor management and a code of practice for muirburn. If an estate breaches the terms of these new codes, its licence to shoot red grouse can be removed.
Following an update I wrote last month about the development of these two new codes (see here), there has been further progress on the grouse moor management code (referred to as the Grouse Code).
It is still in draft format but is said by officials to be ‘approaching a final version’. It’s anticipated that the Grouse Code will be in place for the start of the grouse shooting season on the Inglorious 12th August whereas the Code of Practice for Muirburn is not expected to be finalised until early 2025.
The latest draft version of the Grouse Code can be read/downloaded here:
Raptor Persecution UK 
“you must not…..at any time harass any wild bird included in schedule 1A”.
Will this mean that bird scaring devices (eg gas guns) are not allowed to be placed anywhere that there might be schedule 1A birds?
Only a small mention for the part that I would say has perhaps the heaviest weight of responsibility to carry – “1.6 On-site visits”. Maybe that’s just the standard way these things are written? I suppose only time will tell what actually happens on the ground when the thing is up and running.
Despite royal assent, I see that snares are still both legal and, what’s more, “necessary” according to Police Scotland, who continue to claim that “when done legally.. is an effective and humane form of control”.
https://www.scotland.police.uk/about-us/what-we-do/firearms-and-explosives-licensing/snares-and-weapon-transfers/
Beggars belief fighting a losing battle the police obviously want to save face disgusted. Oh let’s try to keep the peace with the rich estate owners managers xxxxx xxxxx xxxxx as I call them they probably shoot themselves.
[Ed: I think you’ve got the wrong end of the stick. The development of the Grouse Code has nothing to do with the police]
I can see grouse moor estates releasing a couple of hundred red-legged partridge on to a grouse moor (it already happens because I’ve seen it) and claiming any predator control and land management practices are for the r-l partridge shooting, not red grouse. I think NatureScot may have unwittingly left a gaping wide loop-hole by specifying that the code of practice is for red grouse only. We’ll see…
Thanks, Artyboy. The issue of releasing RLPs for shooting where a licence to shoot red grouse has been refused/withdrawn was raised at various stages of the Bill’s progression – e.g. see here:
https://raptorpersecutionuk.org/2024/03/20/wildlife-management-muirburn-bill-its-pretty-much-a-done-deal/
At Stage 3 Minister Jim Fairlie indicated that if RLPs (or pheasants) were released under those circumstances it may be viewed by the authorities as an attempt to exploit a loophole. He suggested that it could result in new legislation that would bring in a licensing regime for ALL gamebird shooting, not just red grouse.
Agreed, but it states that would only happen on estates that already have had their red grouse licenses refused. It may be that estates that still have licenses see the writing on the wall and decide to circumvent the ligislation by claiming they are only managing for RLPs. It would then take quite some time for the wheels of government to turn and for RLPs or all gamebirds to be included in the bill; this could give the shooting industry another few years at least in which time all of the old, bad practices would continue unchecked and more henb harriers vanish off the hills.