Rural Affairs and Islands Committee hears second of four evidence sessions for the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill

On Wednesday 14 June, the Rural Affairs and Islands Committee met to hear the second of four evidence sessions for the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill. The main points taken from the meeting were:

• Licensing was one of many options explored by the Werritty panel, with the next step after licensing being a total ban, which no one on the panel wanted. A public body such as NatureScot should not be heavy handed in their approach when implementing a licensing scheme, as most grouse moors are well managed. The panel don’t want a rigid and inflexible licensing scheme. The natural environment is subject to factors such as climate change, and therefore a sensible, proportionate, and flexible system is needed for grouse moor management. The annual renewal of licences is unnecessary, given that the Scottish Government and NatureScot have the flexibility to alter the scheme once it is implemented, and Professor Werritty concluded that a longer term, such as a 5-year licence would be preferrable.
• Intermediary sanctions such as fines were mentioned, similar to fines imposed by SEPA for illegal discharge into water courses. Using fines as a precursory measure before licence suspension or revocation would enable some form of income recovery, which the bill does not allow for currently. Further investigation is required on this subject.
• Professor Newton talked about the ecological impact of grouse moors as a unique habitat, where legal predator control operations are undertaken that enable red list bird species to nest with good success. With raptor persecution taken out of the equation, maintenance of grouse moor areas helps to sustain endangered species. In other areas, they are declining with poor reproduction due to predation by corvids, mustelids, and foxes. Grouse moor management is also the least environmentally damaging of all the major land uses, when compared with forestry and agricultural land management.
• SSPCA Chief Superintendent Mike Flynn agreed with other stakeholder organisations that there should be a separate offence for anyone caught tampering with legally set and registered traps on grouse moorland.
• The voluntary Code of Practice for muirburn is not working as it should with some incidents of non-adherence. There is also a lack of data on how moors are currently managed. Professor Newton described the practice of muirburn whereby small patches of the grouse moor are rotationally burned every 10-15 years, giving grouse pairs short heather for feeding and longer patches of vegetation for nesting and cover. This method of burning also creates firebreaks and decreases the level of dry tinder material. For the recent cases of wildfire in the UK, most occurred in the summer (not muirburn season), and in areas not currently managed by the use of Muirburn.
• Professor Newton explained to the Committee that he would be very happy for a single licence to “cover the lot”. This was in relation to the two licences that will govern muirburn, so a more streamlined system should be considered. 

The next evidence session takes place on Wednesday 21 June. To watch the live session, click here.