The Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament in February 2025 and received extensive scrutiny through Parliamentary Stages 1 and 2, which concluded in December 2025 just prior to the Xmas break.
The Bill as it currently stands after Stage 2 can be read here.
The Bill is quite broad but generally deals with proposals to introduce targets to improve biodiversity, proposals on Environmental Impact Assessments and the Habitats Regulations, proposals on the aims of National Parks and their management, and proposals on the management of wild deer.
Stage 3 of the Bill, where final amendments can be lodged and debated in the Chamber prior to a vote on whether the Bill is passed is expected to take place soon, with the goal of completing it prior to the dissolution of the Parliament for the May 2026 election.
There are many topics of interest in this Bill but those of specific interest to this blog include amendments relating to closing the loophole in the grouse moor licensing scheme (I’ll blog separately on that), a proposed amendment to permit licences to falconers to take Mountain Hares (I’ll blog separately on that) and a number of amendments relating to the licensing of non-native gamebird releases (Pheasants & Red-legged Partridges). That is the subject of this particular blog.
There were over 300 amendments proposed to this Bill and the Stage 2 debates, led by the Rural Affairs & Islands Committee, took place during extended sessions on 19th and 26th November and 3rd and 10th December 2025, including additional sessions that had to continue into the evenings just to get through them all.
The amendments relating to non-native gamebird releases were heard on 19th November and interestingly, were proposed by three MSPs from three different parties – Lorna Slater MSP (Scottish Greens), Mercedes Villalba MSP (Scottish Labour) and Beatrice Wishart MSP (Scottish Lib Dems).
Lorna Slater’s amendment (Amendment #40) proposed a licensing scheme for Pheasants (surprisingly, she didn’t include Red-legged Partridges, I’m not sure why) to curb the mass release of non-native gamebirds to be shot for entertainment. A Scottish Greens press release on this issue can be read here.
She wasn’t calling for an immediate outright ban, although she acknowledged, during the debate, a personal opinion that that would be a “good idea”. I suspect she probably went for licensing rather than a ban because she recognised that without scientific evidence showing the damaging impact to the environment of releasing millions of non-native gamebirds, the Scottish Government would be unlikely to take such a step. She argued that:
“We should know how many Pheasants there are, who is releasing them and where, and we should know the impact they are having on our environment. We do not know those things“.
Predictably, her proposal was attacked by the three Conservative committee members (Tim Eagle MSP, Rachael Hamilton MSP and Finlay Carson MSP) with varying degrees of outrage and ignorance. Notable was Tim Eagle’s reference to the recent report on gamebird releases in the Cairngorms National Park, where he, let’s be charitable, perhaps inadvertently, misrepresented the report’s findings (which I discussed in a previous blog, here).
Lorna Slater withdrew Amendment #40 in favour of Amendment #12 in the name of Mercedes Villalba MSP (see below).
Mercedes Villalba proposed a couple of amendments relating to gamebird releases. Amendment #12 proposed modifying Section 14 of the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 (introduction of new species etc) whereby Scottish Ministers must publish a strategy for the long-term management of an introduced (non-native) species including an assessment of the expected effect of the non-native species on the natural environment.
Mercedes’ other amendment on this subject (#55) proposed repealing Section 14 part 2a of the W&C Act, which exempts anyone releasing Pheasants and Red-legged Partridge from committing an offence if releasing a non-native species beyond its native range. She argued that the game-shooting sector had negotiated this exemption as part of the Wildlife & Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011 but that this amounted to ‘putting up our natural environment for sale’ where commercial profit for private shareholders (shoot owners) was causing additional cost to the public purse for environmental conservation.
Beatrice Wishart’s amendment (#269) proposed giving Scottish Ministers the power to restrict releases of non-native gamebirds where those releases restrict damaging flora, fauna or the wider environment. It would enable Ministers to specify where and when such restrictions apply, based on evidence of environmental harm. Beatrice said during the debate that her amendment was triggered after learning that Red-legged Partridges had been released on Shetland!
She lodged a further amendment (#270) proposing to amend Section 44 of the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 to give NatureScot explicit powers of entry to land for the purpose of monitoring or assessing species that are considered to be outside of their natural range. She argued that this would “provide the practical access that is needed for early detection, accurate assessment and timely intervention – key principles of effective non-native species management“.
In response to these proposals, Cabinet Secretary Gillian Martin MSP urged the members not to press the amendments at Stage 2 and that she was willing to work with them, ahead of Stage 3, to see whether further refinement / agreement could be found.
Speaking to the amendments collectively, she said this:
“I acknowledge the concerns that stakeholders and the committee have expressed about invasive non-native species. I am aware that INNS are one of the key drivers of biodiversity loss, as identified by the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, and ambitious targets are set out in the global biodiversity framework to tackle that. I am also mindful of the concerns that have been expressed about the species that have been exempted from the provisions in section 14 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
“Stakeholders have highlighted the potential impacts of the common pheasant and red-legged partridge on our native biodiversity, as well as the risks that those species pose in relation to the spread of avian influenza. Stakeholders have also spoken about the effects of the self-seeding of Sitka spruce on sensitive habitats such as peat bog.
“Given those concerns, I absolutely understand why Mercedes Villalba has lodged her set of amendments. I agree entirely that having in place a robust process to manage the impacts of any non-native species that are exempted from section 14(1) and (2) of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 makes sense. However, we must ensure that such a process is aligned fully with current legislation, is workable in practice and does not cause harm to Scotland’s rural economy…
“... Amendment 55 would remove the current exemption for common pheasant and red-legged partridges. The Scottish Government is aware of the concern about the potential impact of game bird releases. However, we are concerned that— as has been mentioned by members—we currently do not have a complete calculation of the number of game birds that are being released in Scotland. Without that information, it is very difficult to take an informed view on the potential impacts.
“Having heard what has been said in today’s discussion, we will give careful consideration to whether further research is needed to address the evidence gaps. Although I cannot support the amendment at this stage, I am committed to exploring whether additional research needs to be undertaken—I suggest that it does—in order to strengthen our understanding and to support informed discussion on sustainable game bird management in Scotland in the future”.
There was an intervention by Lorna Slater:
“We are in some agreement on the data collection point. My Conservative colleagues to my right have also expressed some frustration that we do not have the data. However, arguing that we do not know how many game birds are released is somewhat circular, given that licensing would provide a mechanism to determine that. I am not suggesting that any restrictions be applied until data is gathered. I am interested in hearing a more robust commitment from the cabinet secretary about data collection so that both sides of the argument can come to the discussion with some evidence, rather than our own particular views”.
The Cabinet Secretary responded:
“As I said, I have heard all the arguments on the issue, and they are well
rehearsed. I have pretty much committed to further research on the issue, which I think is needed“.
None of the amendments were pressed and it remains to be seen whether they return in a slightly different format at Stage 3.
Whether they return or not, it’s very encouraging that the issue of releasing millions of non-native gamebirds for so-called ‘sport shooting’ continues to be raised in the Scottish Parliament, and especially as the amendments were lodged by politicians from three separate parties.
This issue isn’t going away anytime soon.
If you’re interested in the details of the various discussions and debates held during the session on 19 November 2025 you can watch the parliamentary video (here) or read / download the official report (transcript) here:
Raptor Persecution UK 