Last week the Scottish Parliament voted through the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Bill, introducing new licensing schemes for grouse shooting, wildlife trapping and muirburn, the total banning of snares and the granting of additional investigatory powers for the Scottish SPCA.
A hen harrier celebrates the news. Photo by Ruth Tingay
I’ve already blogged about the reactions from REVIVE, OneKind and RSPB Scotland, contrasted with the reactions from the Scottish Gamekeepers Association, BASC and Scottish Land & Estates (here).
Here are a few more reactions and articles:
The Scottish Greens, whose Bute House Agreement with the SNP put this issue right at the top of the political agenda, reaction here.
The passing of the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Bill yesterday, voted for by almost everyone (except the Scottish Tories and the SNP’s Fergus Ewing MSP) has been the hot topic of conversation today.
For many, the Bill has been the focus of daily life for exactly one year, when it was first introduced on 21 March 2023. And of course, the issue of raptor persecution on grouse moors, which is what triggered this Bill in the first place, has been the focus of daily life for many of us for longer than we care to remember, well before the introduction of the Bill.
With such a long history of campaigning, the responses to the passing of the Bill yesterday were entirely predictable. Conservationists are very happy with it, recognising it as an important stride forward but fully cognisant that our work here is not yet done. You can read responses from REVIVE, the coalition for grouse moor reform here, from OneKind here, and from RSPB Scotland here.
The grouse shooting industry is furious with it, mainly, from what I can tell, because it feels humiliated. It’s an industry founded on privilege and self-entitlement and has done pretty much what it wants for about 150 years, unhindered by the societal rules by which the rest of us must abide. To have the Scottish Parliament vote to introduce legislation that will finally hold the industry to account is hugely embarrassing. Imagine having to listen to a Government Minister say this about you in the Parliament’s debating chamber:
“There were those who disagreed with the principles of the bill, but if the grouse-shooting community had shut down raptor persecution— stopped the killing of our most iconic birds of prey—we would not have had to legislate in this way. Sadly, that community did not shut it down, so it is now up to us to make sure that it does so. It is for that reason that the bill is before us today”. – Scottish Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie, 21 March 2024.
I guess that’s why there wasn’t a single representative from the industry sitting in the public gallery at Holyrood yesterday.
Not that I have any sympathy. The grouse shooting industry has been given chance after chance after chance to rid itself of the criminals within. It has failed to do so, instead going on the offensive, repeatedly denying that raptor persecution even exists and conducting a disgusting campaign of hate, smear and abuse targeted against those who were prepared to call them out.
I don’t believe that every grouse shooting estate is ‘at it’, but I do believe that there are more ‘at it’ than are not. And even the ones that are not, they do know who is responsible – the entire industry knows – but the industry has refused to blacklist. Now they’re all going to suffer the consequences.
You can read the responses to the passing of the Bill from the Scottish Gamekeepers Association here, from Scottish Land & Estates here and from BASC here.
BASC’s response is particularly interesting as it claims the new legislation “is unworkable for gamekeepers and land managers” and “will beruinous to the rural economy“. Does that mean that BASC thinks that sustainable grouse moor management isn’t viable? That grouse moor management relies upon the illegal persecution of birds of prey, the use of inhumane snares to trap foxes and other wildlife and the routine setting alight of deep peat moorland? That would be an extraordinary admission!
So what happens next?
Now the details of the Bill have been finalised and passed, NatureScot can get on with finalising the details of the codes of practice for grouse shoot licensing and muirburn licensing that will be used to support the implementation of the new legislation. I’ll post details when they become available.
The timing of the ban on snares and wildlife trap licensing is yet to be determined.
It is fully expected that grouse shoot licensing will be in place for the start of the 2024 grouse shooting season on 12th August. The muirburn licence is more complicated and it is anticipated that won’t be in play until September 2025.
Here is a copy of the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Bill as passed:
On the day the Scottish Parliament is due to vote through new legislation intended to tackle the ongoing illegal persecution of birds of prey on grouse moors, we learn that yet another satellite-tagged hen harrier has ‘disappeared’ in suspicious circumstances, this time on a grouse moor in the notorious Angus Glens.
If there are any MSPs in the chamber this afternoon who are wavering about whether this new legislation is needed, this news will assure them that yes, it most certainly is.
Press release from RSPB (21 March 2024):
ANOTHER SATELLITE-TAGGED HEN HARRIER ‘SUSPIOUSLY DISAPPEARS’ IN THE ANGUS GLENS IN SCOTLAND
A young Hen Harrier fitted with a satellite-tag to monitor its movements ‘suspiciously disappeared’ in Glen Esk, in the Angus Glens in late February 2024.
This is the fourth sat-tagged Hen Harrier to have suspiciously disappeared in the area since 2017.
Hen Harriers are being persecuted across the UK with many confirmed incidents associated with land managed for gamebird shooting.
RSPB Scotland are appealing for information following the sudden, suspicious disappearance of a satellite-tagged Hen Harrier in Glen Esk in Angus.
The tag fitted to ‘Shalimar’ a young female Hen Harrier, which fledged from a nest on the National Trust for Scotland’s Mar Lodge Estate in Aberdeenshire last summer, was functioning as expected before data transmissions unexpectedly and suddenly stopped on 15 February.
Officers from the National Wildlife Crime Unit and Police Scotland, supported by the RSPB Investigations staff, carried out a search of the area where the bird last transmitted, but failed to find its body or tag.
Hen harrier Shalimar being fitted with her satellite tag. Photo via RSPB
A large area of the Angus Glens is intensively managed for driven grouse shooting and is a notorious raptor persecution hotspot, with multiple confirmed incidents of poisoning, shooting and illegal trapping stretching back over the last 20 years. There have also been several previous incidents where satellite-tagged birds of prey have been killed or ‘suspiciously disappeared’ in the area. Since 2017, this has included four Hen Harriers, a Golden Eagle and a White-tailed Eagle.
Hen Harriers are one of the UK’s rarest birds of prey and, in terms of its population size, the most heavily persecuted species in the country. Several recent independent studies and evidence from historical and on-going criminal investigations have confirmed that the killing of this ‘Red Listed’ species is significantly linked to land managed for Red Grouse shooting and have revealed that the illegal killing of Hen Harriers associated with the grouse shooting industry is the primary constraint on their population.
Ian Thomson, RSPB Scotland’s Head of Investigations said: “The Scottish Parliament has recognised the ongoing link between crimes against birds of prey and the management of some grouse moors by its of passing of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill earlier this week. In future, any landholding linked to wildlife crime faces a loss of its licence to shoot grouse. While these provisions have come just too late to prevent Shalimar becoming the latest Hen Harrier to likely disappear at the hands of criminals, we hope that the new legislation will help to consign raptor persecution to the history books in Scotland”.
The Mar Lodge Estate, near Braemar, is an important area for breeding Hen Harriers, largely as a result of effective habitat management and an overall commitment to conservation. Last year 32 Hen Harriers successfully fledged from nests on the estate, of which four were fitted with satellite-tags by RSPB.
The data received from these sat-tags provides information which allows conservationists to study the movements of these birds, including identifying roost sites, foraging areas and any migration patterns, whilst also helping to detect suspected incidents of persecution. If a tagged bird dies of natural causes, in the vast majority of cases the bird’s tag and its body can be recovered and submitted for post-mortem analysis.
Although in some areas Hen Harriers breeding numbers are improving their survival rate remains low. A paper published in 2023 highlighted that Hen Harrier persecution accounted for 27-43% of mortality of first-year birds, with the lifespan of Hen Harriers after fledging averaging 121 days.
23 Hen Harriers have been tagged at Mar Lodge since 2016. Almost 40% of these satellite-tagged birds have ‘suspiciously disappeared’.
Staff at Mar Lodge are saddened by the apparent loss of Shalimar and the other tagged-harriers that have fledged from the estate. A spokesperson said: “We hope some of the other chicks fledged last year have a more favourable future. Despite these losses we will continue our vital conservation work at Mar Lodge and other NTS properties doing what we can to ensure the survival and recovery of hen harriers and other raptor species.”
If you have information about anyone killing birds of prey which you wish to report please call the police on 101 and fill in the RSPB’s online reporting form here. If you would like to report anonymously, please call the RSPB’s confidential Raptor Crime Hotline on 0300 999 0101 or fill in our reporting form.
We would like to thank Mar Lodge Estate, the NWCU and Police Scotland for their support and positive partnership working.
ENDS
UPDATE 21 March: 123 hen harriers confirmed ‘missing’ or illegally killed in UK since 2018, most of them on or close to grouse moors (here)
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.
Photo by Jason Rose
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:
This Thursday @scotgov will be voting through sweeping reforms to driven grouse shooting – snares banned , licenses for moors , burning and wildlife traps and increased investigatory powers for @ScottishSPCA . . . they just couldn’t behave but now they will have to ! pic.twitter.com/0sDsElYDn1
The final stage (stage 3) of the Scottish Government’s Wildlife Management & Muirburn Bill begins in the main debating chamber at Holyrood in Edinburgh just after 2pm.
For new readers, this is proposed new legislation to regulate grouse shooting and its associated management practices by way of licensing schemes, introduced because of the continued illegal persecution of birds of prey on many Scottish grouse moors.
Entrance to Scottish Parliament. Photo: Ruth Tingay
A really good briefing document is available that explains what has happened to the Bill as it has progressed through Parliamentary scrutiny so far. It’s recommended reading for those who want to understand the Bill in more depth:
At the moment there’s much uncertainty about whether stage 3 will be completed today (as had been expected) or whether it will continue through to Thursday.
A lot of amendments have been lodged for Stage 3 and where typically only some would be selected by the Presiding Officer for stage 3 debate, there are rumours that ALL the amendments will be heard! My guess, and it is only a guess, is that this may well be to fend off any future legal action whereby certain organisations may claim that their amendments weren’t selected and it was all very unfair, prejudiced, a breach of their human rights etc etc. I’m sure you can imagine.
A Parliamentary motion will be heard just prior to the start to the debate this afternoon, as follows:
I think, given the length of the suggested time limits, this gives some indication that the rumours about all amendments being heard are probably accurate. It’s also indicative that proceedings will probably not conclude today (or if they do it’ll be really late into the evening) and may need to be carried forward to another day.
For those interested in the amendment timings/groupings, here is a useful summary:
I’m afraid much of the uncertainty will continue until Stage 3 proceedings begin this afternoon. You can watch live on Scottish Parliament TV (session starts at 2pm in the debating chamber) – watch here.
At the weekend I blogged about a claim made by BASC that Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie might be considering a U-turn on the proposed snare ban, one of several measures being brought in by the Wildlife Management & Muirburn Bill (see here).
A dead fox killed in an illegally-set snare. Photo: Scottish SPCA
Many thanks to those of you who wrote to the Minister (and your local MSPs) calling for the proposed snare ban to remain in place.
Today, STV is reporting (here) that BASC has written to the Minister calling for the snare ban to be abandoned. BASC is apparently also asking for the scrapping of proposals that will allow other gamebird species to be added to the list that will require a licence to be shot, and also doesn’t want the Scottish SPCA to have increased investigatory powers. Quelle surprise.
STV states that the letter, which hasn’t been published, ‘raises the spectre of a potential legal challenge to the Bill’.
Jim Fairlie has responded robustly and is quoted as follows:
“It is vital that Scotland’s grouse moors are managed in a way that is both sustainable and environmentally conscious.
Our Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill will ensure that land managers adhere to responsible land management practices.
It is clear to me that our countryside continues to suffer from the damaging effects of wildlife crime, including raptor persecution on grouse moors.
The Bill contains a range of measures that will strengthen protections for our wildlife and will combat the blight of raptor persecution throughout Scotland.
I recognise the depth of feeling associated with these issues.
That’s why we have consulted extensively with groups from across the debate, and they have been involved in every step of the Bill’s process.
I am confident that this Bill strikes the right balance between further safeguarding our environment and supporting our rural economy“.
That’ll be a no then, BASC.
I see that BASC has now removed the claim that the Minister had suggested in discussions with BASC that he might be considering a U-turn on the snare ban. I hope BASC hasn’t been making false claims designed to appeal to its members.
Here’s the wording in the original blog:
And here’s how it looks today:
As for a legal challenge, this just seems like an empty threat. A judicial review can only be granted on the basis that a decision was made unlawfully (i.e. without due process). It cannot be made on the basis that someone (i.e. BASC) doesn’t like the decision.
Given the extensive level of consultations and evidence sessions relating to the Wildlife Management & Muirburn Bill, in all of which BASC has been engaged, I’d be utterly gobsmacked if a court decided the process of this Bill has been unlawful in any way, shape or form.
The Bill is currently at Stage 3 and will be debated by the entire Scottish Parliament on Tuesday 19th March, followed by a final vote to pass it onto statute.
UPDATE 15.00hrs:
Other media sites are also covering this story and a piece on the politics.co.uk website includes a bit more detail about BASC’s foot-stamping tantrum. It’s not just the snare ban, addition of more gamebirds for licensing, or SSPCA powers that they’re objecting to- it’s also the extent of the relevant offences that may trigger a licence suspension/revocation, and the definition of peatland being 40cm depth:
The National has also run a piece, including a quote from Max Wiszniewski, Campaign Manager at REVIVE, the coalition for grouse moor reform:
“It’s unsurprising to see the shooting fraternity making a last ditch attempt to water down this legislation, to avoid necessary scrutiny of their woefully unregulated and destructive industry.
“Grouse moors are responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of animals, the burning of huge swathes of Scotland and the pollution of the land from lead shot and toxic medicated medicated grit that’s spread throughout the countryside – all so more grouse can be shot by a few wealthy people for sport.
“While the grouse moor bill could go further to tackle this circle of destruction, it marks an important and necessary intervention into land management activities and a full ban on snaring would be an important gain for animal welfare, something that seems is of little concern to the industry.
“The Government would do well, to continue to reject these cynical attempts to rebrand snaring which up until now, has fooled no-one.”
For new readers, this is proposed new legislation to regulate grouse shooting and its associated management practices by way of licensing schemes, introduced because of the continued illegal persecution of birds of prey on many Scottish grouse moors.
A police officer examines the corpse of a young White-tailed eagle, found illegally poisoned on a grouse moor in the Cairngorms National Park. Photo: Police Scotland
The Wildlife Management & Muirburn Bill, introduced in March 2023, has been examined and critiqued by the Rural Affairs & Islands Committee over the last year and after a number of amendments has now reached the final stage (Stage 3) of its progression through the Parliament.
Conservationists are generally satisfied with the Bill as it currently stands. It’s not perfect by any means, but it represents a significant shift away from the previous situation of driven grouse shooting being a largely unregulated hotbed of wildlife crime, animal suffering and environmental damage, where those committing offences were rarely held to account and the few who were only suffered minimal consequences.
The new legislation will introduce a licensing scheme for all grouse shooting in Scotland and where there’s sufficient evidence of unlawful activity (e.g. the poisoning, shooting or trapping of birds of prey) the licence can be revoked to prevent any further grouse shooting on that area of land. Crucially, the evidence will be assessed on the civil burden of proof (i.e. the balance of probability) rather than the criminal burden of proof (i.e. beyond reasonable doubt).
Muirburn will only be permitted under licence and not on peatlands where the peat depth is greater than 40cm. The muirburn season will end on 31st March instead of running through April as it currently does.
Grouse shooting and muirburn will both be covered by two new statutory codes of practice. Breaches of the code may result in the revocation of the relevant licence.
The SSPCA will be given increased investigatory powers to allow them to help with enforcement measures against wildlife crime alongside their current powers for enforcing animal welfare legislation.
Wildlife trap users will be licensed and all must first complete training for each trap type they intend to use. All snares (including so-called ‘humane cable restraints’) will be banned.
This is all looking very good. However, it’s not over the line yet. Further amendments to the Bill at Stage 3 may be lodged up until Tues 12th March and then some of those amendments will be selected for debate by the whole Parliament on Tues 19th, followed by a final vote on the Bill before it’s sent for royal assent.
Those further potential amendments have yet to be published but we expect to see them later next week. Of particular concern is a suggestion by BASC (British Association for Shooting & Conservation) that the Minister (Jim Fairlie MSP) may be considering a U-turn on the snare ban. This is what appeared on a recent BASC blog that was updating its members on the progression of the Bill after Stage 2:
A U-turn on the proposed snaring ban at Stage 3 would seem unlikely given the Government’s strong position shown at Stage 2 on implementing the ban, but BASC clearly seem to think that it’s a possibility.
With this in mind, I’d encourage all blog readers in Scotland to write to your respective MSPs to encourage them to support the Wildlife Management & Muirburn Bill as it currently stands and let them know how important it is that no U-turns are undertaken on the snaring ban.
Tell them how long you’ve been waiting for these new measures to be introduced and that you welcome and support the Government’s plans to finally bring some meaningful regulation to the grouse-shooting industry.
You can find the names of your MSPs by entering your postcode here.
Thank you.
UPDATE 14th March 2024: BASC throws a wobbler as Minister Jim Fairlie stands firm on Wildlife Management & Muirburn Bill (here)
The Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs & Islands Committee met again on Wednesday 21st February to undertake its second day of consideration of the Stage 2 amendments of the Wildlife Management (grouse moor reform) Bill.
For new readers, this is proposed new legislation to regulate grouse shooting and its associated management practices by way of licensing schemes, introduced because of the continued illegal persecution of birds of prey on many Scottish grouse moors.
A report on what happened during the first day of consideration that took place two weeks ago can be found here.
Newly appointed Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie MSP was in the hot seat. Screengrab from Scottish Parliament TV, 21 Feb 2024
Two separate sessions were required on Wednesday (one in the morning and one in the evening) to get through all the amendments, bringing Stage 2 of this Bill to a close.
Newly-appointed Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie MSP led the Government’s response, taking over from Gillian Martin MSP whose Ministerial responsibilities have been moved elsewhere after the recent mini-reshuffle.
There were two other new faces on the Committee – Emma Harper MSP (SNP) who replaces former Committee member Jim Fairlie, and Elena Whitham MSP (SNP) who replaces former Committee member Karen Adam MSP who left after taking on commitments on a different Committee.
Other MSPs in attendance were Edward Mountain MSP (Conservative), Jamie Halco Johnstone MSP (Conservative, representing Stephen Kerr MSP) and Colin Smyth MSP (Labour), none of whom were eligible to vote on the Stage 2 amendments but who were present to speak to amendments they had lodged.
Wednesday’s two sessions were straight forward and once again there weren’t any big surprises with Committee members mostly voting along party lines, which meant that the numerous wrecking amendments put forward by the Conservatives, designed to weaken the Bill, were not supported by the majority. It also meant that various amendments put forward by Colin Smyth MSP (Labour), designed to strengthen the Bill, were also unsupported by the majority. Overall, the Bill passed Stage 2 pretty much in the format that the Government had introduced it, which is what had been anticipated.
I won’t go through the amendments one by one because there were too many. For those interested in proceedings the archive video of the two meetings are linked below, as is the meeting transcript.
The big ‘wins’ from our perspective were as follows:
There was majority support for Ministers to be given the power to add additional gamebird species to the licence if there is evidence that wildlife crime, such as raptor persecution, is taking place to facilitate the management of gamebirds such as pheasants and red-legged partridge. Ministers will have the authority to take evidence, consult and then vote on adding those species to the licence at a later date, if deemed appropriate.
This is a very important amendment especially given the recent trend in the release of red-legged partridge on grouse moors where shooting red grouse is no longer a viable commercial activity. Red-legged partridge and/or pheasants may be used by some grouse shooting estates as an alternative quarry if their licence for shooting red grouse has been revoked so having the power to include these additional species on the licence will close the loophole that some grouse moor managers may have sought to exploit in order to continue killing raptors without consequence. Amendments seeking to exclude this provision were lodged by Conservatives Edward Mountain and Rachael Hamilton but they were not supported.
Red-legged partridge pens placed on a moor in south Scotland
There was support for an amendment that provides a requirement for the use of medicated grit to be included in the Code of Practice being developed to support the new legislation. This is a timely amendment given the research published last week by the League Against Cruel Sports and Wild Justice that demonstrated widespread bad practice and the complete lack of monitoring of medicated grit use (see here).
REVIVE, the coalition for grouse moor reform has just released a campaign video to highlight those findings:
The details of what requirements will be made in the Code of Practice in relation to the use of medicated grit are still to be determined but the Government’s support for medicated grit use to be included is very good news indeed, especially when some grouse shooting organisations have been arguing against its inclusion.
The Minister discussed his intention to introduce a requirement in the Bill to undertake monitoring and reporting of raptor populations – specifically golden eagle, hen harrier and peregrine, species identified in the Werritty Review as being significantly impacted by raptor persecution crimes on grouse moors.
This monitoring would provide a key measure of success (or failure) of the Bill to tackle raptor persecution, which is one of its primary objectives, and whether the new legislation has been effective in this respect. The Minister said he would return to this issue at Stage 3 after discussions with NatureScot and the Scottish Raptor Study Group about the resources required to undertake monitoring and reporting. Rachael Hamilton lodged an amendment that called for a limit on the reporting of some raptor persecution incidents – she wanted to only include crimes that had been proven by conviction. In other words, to exclude incidents described as ‘suspicious’ such as those relating to the suspicious disappearance of satellite-tagged raptors on grouse moors. Her amendment was not supported.
One of the most significant ‘wins’ came from the majority vote to support the introduction of additional powers for the Scottish SPCA to allow them to investigate offences under the Wildlife & Countryside Act – an extension of their current powers to investigate offences under the Animal Health & Welfare Act. As regular blog readers will know, this issue has been kicked down the road repeatedly by the Scottish Government over a 13-year period (see here for timeline) so getting support after so long is particularly satisfying.
Of course there were the usual inaccurate and non-sensical objections from the Conservatives, with Edward Mountain claiming this “would give powers to people who have never had such powers before” and “It should be the police, not other people, who implement the law” and “It would give powers to third parties who I do not believe are qualified or have the legal training to exercise such powers“.
These continued claims about the SSPCA’s supposed inexperience and inability to investigate wildlife crime are laughable, given that they’re already an official specialist reporting agency to the Crown Office so know all about due process, they already work in partnership with Police Scotland and other agencies in raptor persecution investigations, and through their skill, experience and expertise routinely bring some of the most sadistic wildlife-abusers to justice, including badger baiters such as the recent case against a depraved gamekeeper employed on the Millden Estate in the Angus Glens (here). Edward Mountain should be thanking the Scottish SPCA for its tireless and often challenging work, and its willingness to undertake even more of it under this new legislation at no cost to the tax payer. Seriously, who would want to oppose the addition of more expert professionals to bring the wildlife criminals to justice?
Another big win came via Kate Forbes’s amendment to see the closing of the muirburn season brought forward to 31st March. Currently, gamekeepers can burn heather up until 15th April, and in some cases even to the 30th April where landowner discretion allows. This late season burning overlaps with the breeding season of various moorland bird species, and when that breeding season is predicted to get earlier in response to climate change it’s obviously idiotic to allow burning to continue during that period, just on the precautionary principle alone.
Grouse moor muirburn. Photo: Ruth Tingay
The 31st March was seen as a compromise as Conservatives Edward Mountain and Rachael Hamilton wanted burning to be permitted until 30th April whereas Green MSP Ariane Burgess suggested 15th March. There will be powers in the Bill to allow Ministers to review the 31st March cut off date to take account of future research findings.
Given that the majority of muirburn in Scotland currently takes place in April, the grouse shooting industry will not be at all happy with this new restriction. They’ve lobbied hard against it, including taking the newly-appointed Minister Jim Fairlie out to visit a muirburn site at the beginning of the week, but their lobbying influence is clearly not as powerful as they like to suggest it is.
They do have some influence, of course. Bizarrely, Kate Forbes found support amongst the Committee for another, related amendment, which will allow the beginning of the muirburn season to start two weeks earlier (i.e. 15th September as opposed to the current start date of 1st October). There is no justification for this other than to appease the grouse shooters by not shortening the overall muirburn season. In a climate emergency, this is bonkers. It suggests that the Scottish Government thinks that burning the moors to facilitate excessively large numbers of red grouse for a few selfish people to shoot for fun is more important than the global climate crisis. Actually it does more than suggest it – the Scottish Government was clear in its argument against Colin Smyth’s amendment (#143) that it thinks muirburn is acceptable for the sole purpose of maintaining & increasing red grouse so they can be shot for ‘sport’.
Although how much muirburn will actually take place in September remains to be seen – the heather will still be green-ish so won’t burn well and grouse shooting will be well underway so gamekeepers may have limited time to run around lighting fires. Let’s see.
A ‘sort-of’ win came with the acceptance of a change to the definition of ‘peatland’ as being ‘land where the soil has a layer of peat with a thickness of more than 40 centimetres’ (where “peat” means soil which has an organic content of more than 60%). The current definition of peatland in the Muirburn Code is peat with at least 50 centimetres depth, so dropping this down to 40cm is obviously good news as it means a larger area of peatland will now be protected (landowners will not be issued a licence to undertake muirburn for the purpose of grouse moor management where the peat depth is 40cm or greater). Edward Mountain’s amendment to increase the definition of peatland to 60cm peat depth, and Rachael Hamilton’s amendment for it to remain at 50cm, were unsupported. The Bill will also include a provision for Ministers to keep the definition of peatland under review as further research emerges.
The new peatland definition of 40cm peat depth will probably have a significant impact on the management practices of many grouse moors, particularly in Eastern Scotland where new research has shown a widespread disregard by grouse moor managers for the Muirburn Code restriction of burning on peatland with a 50cm depth (see here). The difference going forward will be that if they disregard the new 40cm depth restriction it will lead to the revocation of their muirburn licence. Having a serious consequence like that should encourage behavioural compliance (again, let’s see!).
I’ve described this one as a ‘sort-of’ win because although the change in definition is welcome (and long overdue), it could have gone so much further. The new definition of peatland could have been lowered to 30cm depth in line with the UK Peatland Strategy‘s definition (also followed by many countries internationally). Or, the definition of peatland could have removed the artificial construct of any peat depth altogether, as eloquently argued by Green MSP Ariane Burgess. There’s a very strong argument against using peat depth as a valid definition of peatland, to properly protect all peatland, including critically important shallow peatland, as explained recently in an excellent guest blog (here). However, the Minister didn’t support this approach.
Other amendments that passed during Wednesday’s sessions included a decision that falconers will not need to apply for a licence to hunt red grouse – that seems reasonable given the low number of people engaged in this sport and the lack of associated raptor persecution offences linked to it.
There was also a decision that grouse moor licences should be issued for a five-year period instead of the one-year period originally suggested in the Bill. The grouse shooting industry wanted a ten-year licence but five years was seen as more suitable to provide oversight and review capability by the regulating authority. In essence, the length of the licensing period is pretty inconsequential to us because the most important aspect is that the regulator (NatureScot) will still have the capacity to suspend or revoke a grouse moor management licence at any time during that five period if offences occur.
So, Stage 2 of the Bill is now complete and it moves on to the final Stage 3. This is when further amendments can be lodged and some will be selected (by the Presiding Officer) for a debate by the whole Parliament in the main chamber. Until Stage 3 is complete we won’t know for sure how strong this Bill is but it’s reasonable to think that there won’t be any catastrophic changes given the dominant voting power of the SNP and Greens. A date hasn’t yet been set for the Stage 3 debate but it is anticipated that it’ll take place in March.
After that, the development of the various Codes of Practice designed to support the new legislation will pick up speed and the details of those will take on great significance. A watchful eye will be kept on these to ensure that they are robust and fit for purpose.
Here is a copy of the Bill as amended after Stage 2:
The Scottish Parliament’s Rural Affairs & Islands Committee will continue its Stage 2 consideration of the Wildlife Management & Muirburn Bill this Wednesday and there will probably be a new Minister taking it forward.
For new readers, this is proposed new legislation to regulate grouse shooting and its associated management practices by way of licensing schemes, introduced because of the continued illegal persecution of birds of prey on many Scottish grouse moors.
A grouse shooting butt on a Scottish grouse moor. Photo: Ruth Tingay
So far the Bill has been ably led by Environment & Energy Minister Gillian Martin MSP but after a Cabinet mini-reshuffle earlier this month, it appears that Gillian Martin’s portfolio will no longer cover the Environment (her new title is now Minister for Energy, Just Transition and Fair Work).
Instead, this Bill will now be led by newly-appointed Agriculture & Connectivity Minister, Jim Fairlie MSP, whose relevant portfolio responsibilities include wildlife management and crime, animal health & welfare, and natural resources and peatland.
Strangely, the word ‘Environment’ now does not feature in the title of any Scottish Minister.
I say he’ll ‘probably’ be taking it forward at Wednesday’s session – but that all depends on whether the Scottish Parliament formally approves his appointment as a new Minister and whether an unelected bloke in a crown formally approves it too, all before Wednesday morning.
It’s not ideal to have this level of Ministerial disruption at Stage 2 of the Bill but the good news is that Jim Fairlie has been serving on the Rural Affairs & Islands Committee and so is fully conversant with the Bill’s detail. Perhaps most importantly, he also fundamentally understands why there’s a need for this particular Bill to be passed, as he demonstrated two weeks ago when responding to fellow Committee member Rachael Hamilton’s ridiculous pronouncement that “there’s no connectionbetween raptor persecution and grouse moors” (see here for Jim Fairlie’s reaction).
Of course, now he’s a Minister, Jim Fairlie is no longer permitted to serve on any Committee and his name has been removed from the Committee list. Interestingly, SNP MSP Karen Adam’s name has also disappeared from the list. I don’t know why that is. It’ll be interesting to see who is brought in to replace these two SNP members.
It’ll also be interesting to see how Jim Fairlie steers this Bill as the leading Minister. It’s anticipated that like his predecessor, there won’t be many surprises and he’ll stick to the Government line and not accept many amendments unless they’re Government-backed, but let’s see.
The stage 2 scrutiny of the Bill must be completed by the Committee on Wednesday 21st February. However, as the pace was so slow at the last meeting (a meeting that had already been delayed for two weeks thanks to the Convenor), the Committee will now have to undertake two separate sessions to finish in time. The first session is expected to begin at 11am on Wednesday, after the Committee has considered some other business, and is expected to end at around 12.45pm. There will then be a further session on Wednesday evening, beginning at 6pm.
The morning session will begin by completing amendments on the Bill’s section on the use of wildlife traps (picking up where it left off during the first session two weeks ago) and will then move on to amendments relating to the issues of licensing grouse moor management (including increased powers for the SSPCA) and licensing muirburn. These issues are expected to be the most contentious because, if voted through, many of these licensing conditions will introduce a level of regulation that grouse moor managers simply aren’t used to, and won’t like having to adhere to. Conservationists will welcome the regulations that many of us consider to be necessary and long, long, long overdue.
Predictably, there are a number of amendments, mostly submitted by Conservative MSPs Edward Mountain, Rachael Hamilton and Stephen Kerr, that seek to weaken the Government’s proposed licencing conditions. They’re entitled to submit those, of course, and there are other amendments from the likes of Colin Smyth (Labour), John Mason (SNP) and Ariane Burgess (Greens) that seek to strengthen the terms of the licences. Here is the marshalled list that the Committee will debate on Wednesday:
As ever, these sessions can be watched live on Scottish Parliament TV and there’ll be an archive video and transcripts available after the sessions, which I’ll add here when available.
I’ll also try and write an overview of Wednesday’s proceedings once Stage 2 is complete. You can read my overview of what happened in the previous session here.
Grouse moor managers have been using medicated grit for many years to prevent the natural cyclical population crashes in Red Grouse caused by the parasitic strongyle worm.
This natural regulation of the wild populations was inconvenient for those who seek to produce an artificially high number of birds for so-called ‘sport’ shooting so the use of medicated grit was introduced to prevent these population crashes.
However, aside from the questionable ethical issue of drugging wild birds for ‘sport’, questions have also been raised about the ineffectual regulation and monitoring of its use (see here for a blog I wrote about it way back in 2015).
Grit trays with marker posts can be seen on many moors managed for Red Grouse shooting. Photo: Ruth Tingay
The drug currently used in medicated grit is Flubendazole, and it’s toxic. So toxic in fact that there is a statutory requirement for grouse moor managers to remove the grit 28 days prior to shooting any Red Grouse to ensure that it doesn’t enter the human food chain. We know from previous enquiries that the UK agency responsible for monitoring this adherence to the law is pathetic, to say the least. We also know that this agency (the Veterinary Medicines Directorate) does not visit grouse moors to test grit piles to determine whether its medicated or not. Nobody’s checking, and the grouse moor managers will know this.
Well all that is about to change. Conservation campaign group Wild Justice has teamed up with the League Against Cruel Sports (Scotland) to fund the development of a novel lab test to detect the presence of Flubendazole on grit samples.
This novel test has now been trialled by the League Against Cruel Sports who collected grit samples from a number of moors across Scotland and their findings suggest widespread mis-use of the drug.
Here is a briefing note that details these findings:
Last week Wild Justice and the League Against Cruel Sports met with officials from the Scottish Government and NatureScot to discuss these findings and to ask for improved regulation.
Officials assured the campaigners that although the approval of medication to dose wild birds is a reserved issue to the Westminster Government, the use of medicated grit will be subject to greater regulation in Scotland under the new Codes of Practice being drawn up to support the Wildlife Management & Muirburn Bill.
This is an important step. Firstly, I’d heard rumours that some grouse shooting organisations who serve on the grouse moor Code of Practice working group had been trying to exclude the use of medicated grit from scrutiny and regulation. It’s good to hear that it most definitely will be included.
Secondly, it’s worth remembering that any breach of any of the Codes of Practice could result in an estate’s grouse shooting licence being revoked. Now, obviously it will depend on the detail of the Codes of Practice as to what will be deemed to be a code breach – the devil is always in the detail.
But those details should include a requirement for all medicated grit users to provide the regulator (NatureScot) with a copy of their veterinary prescription (currently unsighted); a requirement that the grit is not administered in a way that it can leach into the environment (currently, it can – see above briefing report); a requirement that when the medicated grit is withdrawn it is disposed of as toxic waste (currently, it isn’t); and a provision that allows NatureScot to randomly field test grit samples on grouse moors to ensure the medicated grit has been withdrawn within the statutory time limit (currently, nobody checks). The development of the novel lab test should help facilitate this.
Some of you may have seen an exclusive in The Herald yesterday about this subject – it’s here, but behind a paywall.
Here’s a photo that someone sent to me of the hard copy, where most of the text is visible:
Raptor Persecution UK 