This Act is the basis for the licensing of grouse moors, something that many of us have been advocating for some time. It was passed by MSPs last year and received Royal Assent on 30 April 2024. It relies on the Code of Practice for Grouse Moor Management published by NatureScot on 21 June 2024, available at Guidance - Code of Practice for Grouse Moor Management | NatureScot
In the same way that the Highway Code defines legal versus illegal driving in a level of detail that can be used by both drivers and police, the Code defines what is and is not acceptable practice on grouse moors and how they propose to enforce the Act.
So far, so good...........
However, it appears that NatureScot turned on its masters, i.e. the MSPs who voted for the legislation. It chose to follow legal advice from the SLE and define the "licensable area", which is defined as the area where grouse are taken or killed, as the immediate area of the grouse butt, instead of the entire estate. This means that, unless it can be proved that wildlife crime took place immediately around the butt, the licence cannot be considered, and this part of the legislation would be rendered essentially useless. This is well explained by Dr. Ruth Tingay on the Raptor Persecution website at NatureScot capitulated on grouse moor licensing after legal threats by game-shooting industry - Raptor Persecution UK. However, more recently, following protests and questions in Parliament, NatureScot appeared to reverse-ferret, and added a new licence condition that it claimed would allow licence revocation if raptor persecution crimes (but not other offences) took place outside of the licensable area. Many believe this to be virtually unenforceable.
Moreover, having derailed the primary purpose of the Bill, NatureScot has doffed its cap further to the SLE, and failed to implement most of the clauses referring to the use of wildlife traps. Nick Kempe details this on his Parkswatch blog, see Muirburn and the government failure to implement & Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 - parkswatchscotland
Clearly, the organisations that campaigned for the original Bill need to start again!
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