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Louise C

The Scottish Raptor Study Group has recently lodged a petition with the Scottish Parliament calling for a licensing system to be introduced for gamebird hunting in Scotland. We, at RSPB Scotland, fully support it and we’d like you to support it too. Read our blog to find out why we think it’s the right move and you can find the petition by clicking here.


Scotland is home to some of the world’s most impressive and inspiring birds of prey, from the powerful golden eagle to the majestic hen harrier. We take a lot of pride in these raptors as a nation and people travel great distances to the rugged, rolling landscapes of Scotland just to see them. Golden eagles, red kites and sea eagles have managed to capture the hearts of many just by appearing on our television screens to give us a glimpse into their intriguing and often perilous lives. And that’s to say nothing of actually managing to catch sight of one of these magnificent birds in real life. Sadly though, these opportunities might not always exist.

Birds of prey have suffered greatly in the UK from several centuries of illegal killing by humans, with some populations dwindling perilously close to the brink of local extinction and others being pushed right over. Between 1994 and 2014, at least 779 birds of prey were illegally killed in Scotland. This shocking figure includes 104 red kites, 37 golden eagles and 10 sea eagles which were poisoned, shot or caught in traps. Over 80% of these crimes occurred in areas where gamebird management was the main land use.

The RSPB has documented the scale of the issue over more than 20 years as part of our vigorous and enduring campaign to stamp out wildlife crime. Our Investigations Team has provided expert assistance to the police, to gather the evidence needed to bring perpetrators to court.  We have also campaigned for effective deterrents to be brought in to prevent similar crimes in future.

Working in this way has brought RSPB Scotland, our partners and supporters several notable successes over the years with improvements to some raptor populations. For example, buzzards are now rightly common again, and white-tailed eagles and red kites have been reintroduced to parts of their former range. But, perhaps more importantly, the conservation problem of the illegal killing of birds of prey has come to the wider public attention. And the public have responded. You have supported our calls for tougher action by our politicians and public authorities in huge numbers. For that we are very thankful, and as a result in Scotland, we now have some of the best wildlife protection legislation in Europe.

However, these laws can be difficult to enforce, particularly in remote areas where witnesses to crimes are rare, and perpetrators can easily dispose of the evidence. This means the chances of these criminals being caught are pretty low, and it’s the birds that suffer. Some species are still faring badly in Scotland; hen harriers are perhaps the best example. This is a species which often finds itself in conflict with grouse moor managers, who are required to produce large numbers of red grouse for hunters to shoot. Hen harriers are known to occasionally take red grouse as food, meaning they are rarely tolerated on ”driven” grouse moors because they are seen as a threat to profitable stock. As a result, harriers have become absent from large parts of their former, and most suitable, habitat range in the eastern and central Highlands and Southern Uplands. Similarly, a significant weight of scientific evidence is illustrating that wildlife crime in areas associated with intensive gamebird shooting management is having a negative impact on our golden eagles, red kites and peregrines.

It has also become increasingly clear that some grouse moor management and pheasant release practices have become more intensive, with detrimental consequences. We know, for example, that more burning is taking place on deep peatland areas, which are important in acting as carbon stores to mitigate the impacts of climate change. There are costs to the public here as well, from treating polluted public water supplies arising from the burning of peatlands in water catchment areas. Deer and mountain hares are being culled ostensibly to prevent grouse diseases, there has been an “industrialisation” of our upland bogs and heaths with the development of more hill tracks, and even the UK endemic subspecies of the willow grouse, the red grouse, is being medicated with veterinary drugs to improve its survival in advance of hunting.

Since its advent in 1999, the Scottish Parliament has taken a keen and welcome interest in wildlife crime. Our first First Minister, Donald Dewar, described crimes against birds of prey as “a national disgrace”. Because of this, we have seen improvements to wildlife protection laws, including the introduction of “vicarious liability”, which places the responsibility firmly in the court of landowners, if they fail to demonstrate that systems are in place to prevent their employees from illegally killing raptors. Whilst we believe this measure may have helped in some places, it is clear that there are still a substantial number of sporting managers in Scotland who continue to disregard laws protecting birds of prey.  

In Scotland and the UK, we have a largely voluntary system of gamebird hunting, administered by landowners, in contrast to practice in most other European countries where state authorities take a more active role in overseeing and monitoring gamebird and other hunting activities. Self-regulation by the gamebird shooting industry in the UK and Scotland has had a significant period of time to get its house in order. But it has patently failed and the killing of our protected raptors continues.

For these reasons, the RSPB strongly believes that a step change in the law, to regulate gamebird shooting, is urgently required. Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) is currently undertaking a review on behalf of the Scottish Government to look at how gamebird hunting is administered in other European countries and this will be published in the autumn. Deer management systems in Scotland are moving firmly in the direction of recognising the public as well as the private interest, and we can see no reason why systems for the management of gamebirds should be any different. We have long-advocated a system of public licensing of gamebird hunting, with appropriate sanctions that would allow licences to be removed if any laws protecting our birds of prey are violated.

It’s important to point out that those who actually manage their land legally and sustainably have nothing to fear from this type of regulation. It would only penalise those who break the law. The removal of a right to hunt gamebirds would also act as a serious and meaningful deterrent to prevent wildlife crime from happening in the first place.                          

The Scottish Raptor Study Group has recently lodged a petition with the Scottish Parliament calling for a licensing system to be brought in for gamebird hunting in Scotland and we, at RSPB Scotland, fully support it. We believe introducing this type of system in Scotland can only be regarded as a positive move. It will only punish land managers who break the law as judged by the courts and will also act as a powerful deterrent to potential wildlife criminals in future. We would ask and encourage you to sign this petition too. Let the Scottish Government know this is an issue you care about and would like to see positive action on. You can find the petition and show your support by clicking here.

It is also worth noting that while Scottish Government petitions can be signed by anyone, only Scottish signatures will be taken into consideration.