Please help end wildlife crimes against birds of prey in Scotland

The Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill is at a key point in its journey through the Scottish Parliament. Our Head of Species and Land Management, Duncan Orr-Ewing, outlines why this crucial piece of legislation must be passed to protect our uplands and the iconic wildlife that lives there.

On 21 February, the Scottish Parliament took a further significant step towards improving the protection and enhancement of birds of prey population in Scotland when the Wildlife Management Bill completed Stage 2 of its progress through the Scottish Parliament’s legislative process. This Bill is of significant interest to RSPB Scotland, as it proposes to licence all grouse shooting, thereby putting in place a meaningful deterrent to those who commit wildlife crimes against birds of prey, including Golden Eagles and Hen Harriers, by linking the right to shoot gamebirds with adherence to the law.

Image credit: Shutterstock

An overwhelming body of evidence, gathered over many years by the RSPB Scotland Investigations team, and supported by many peer-reviewed scientific publications and national bird of prey surveys, makes an unequivocal link between these crimes and land intensively managed for grouse shooting. On these areas of land, primarily located in Scotland’s central and eastern Highlands and Southern Uplands, the objective of some land managers is to produce artificially high numbers of grouse for sporting clients to shoot. Birds of prey, which may sometimes predate grouse, are often considered unwelcome on these landholdings and are killed, despite being legally protected for over 70 years.

At the end of November 2023, members of the Scottish Parliament gave their overwhelming and cross-party support to the broad principles of the Bill. During Stage 2, over 180 proposed amendments to the Bill, tabled by MSPs of all parties, were debated and voted on by members of the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee, with the agreed amendments now included in a new draft version of the Bill.

We commend MSPs for their support for this legislation and the members of the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee who have scrutinised the detail of the Bill to ensure it is robust, whilst also listening carefully to the views of key stakeholders.

Image credit: Pete Morris

We expect the last hurdle for this legislation, Stage 3, to come in the week beginning 18 March, when the whole of the Scottish Parliament gets the opportunity to consider further amendments and to vote on a final version of the Bill.  

The most important measures in this Bill, which we hope will become law very soon, are as follows;

• All grouse shooting will be licenced by NatureScot, and failure to adhere to the terms of conditions of that licence (for example evidence linking the illegal killing of birds of prey to a landholding), may result in removal of the right to shoot grouse. The licence removal process would be based on civil rather than a criminal burden of proof and supported by background evidence gathered by Police Scotland.
• A licence holder for grouse shooting will need to comply with wildlife protection legislation including the Wildlife and Countryside Act and The Badgers Act, as well humane standards set by the Animal Welfare Act.   
• We are concerned that a loophole exists whereby a landowner who has a grouse licence revoked may still be able to release Pheasants and Red-legged Partridges therefore circumventing the legislation.
• All wildlife trap operators will be licenced, and some traps including snares and - considered to be inhumane by animal welfare experts - will be banned.
• Enforcement of this legislation will be supported by giving additional powers to the Scottish SPCA to investigate wildlife crime alongside their existing powers to investigate animal welfare offences. The Scottish SPCA will provide additional resources and complement the work of Police Scotland.
• All muirburn – the burning of heather and grassland vegetation for sporting, agricultural and deer management purposes - will also be licenced. Burning on peatlands for sporting and agricultural purposes will not be permitted, to protect public investment in peatland restoration, intended to help mitigate the effects of climate change. All those who practice muirburn will need to be trained, following evidence from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
• The muirburn season will run from mid-September and end on 31 March each year. The 31 March deadline will bring the muirburn season back from 15 April as originally proposed in the Bill, and to protect ground nesting birds. Many moorland birds including some wading birds, grouse, and raptors have started breeding by late March and early April.  
• Peatlands will be defined by Scottish Government as being 40cm in depth. We have argued that there is a strong case for no burning at all on peatlands of any depth, however we compromise would be 30cm peat depth which aligns with expert peatland scientific advice and is more consistent with other standards. We hope that Scottish Government will come back to this matter at Stage 3 of the Bill.
• The new legislation will be supported by two new statutory codes of practice covering sustainable grouse moor management and muirburn to ensure legal requirements for practitioners are clear.

We welcome and strongly support the Scottish Government’s proposals and hopes that these measures will be implemented in time for the start of this year’s grouse shooting and muirburn seasons.

You can help ensure this legislation is passed, by writing to your MSPs. Please ask them to support the Wildlife Management Bill and in particular measures intended to stop wildlife crimes against birds of prey, as well as to protect and enhance our valuable peatlands. Find your MSPs by entering your postcode here  https://www.parliament.scot/msps

Header image credit: Pete Morris