Golden opportunity to consign illegal killing of birds of prey to the history books - Duncan Orr-Ewing

Progress on protecting our majestic birds of prey from illegal persecution has unfortunately been both slow and ineffective over the last two decades. Various piecemeal improvements to legislation have been made, but these have proven largely inadequate.

The Scottish Government’s patience has also been exhausted. Successive environment ministers, who tried valiantly, have grown tired that their public warnings have been simply ignored by some grouse moor owners. As a consequence, they launched a ground-breaking consultation in autumn 2022 that will ultimately result in driven grouse shooting being licenced. This legislation presents a golden opportunity to consign illegal killing of birds of prey to the history books.

A report published by NatureScot in 2017 showed that between 2004 and 2016 almost one third of 141 golden eagles fitted with satellite tags by researchers had either been illegally killed or disappeared in suspicious circumstances – and mostly on grouse moors. This was just the latest in a plethora of research carried out over the last 20 years that showed a clear link between raptor crime and grouse moor management.

In response, the independent Grouse Moor Management Group, chaired by Professor Alan Werritty, was set by Scottish Government “to advise on the environmental impact of grouse moor management practices…… and advise on the options for licensing of grouse moor businesses”. Following the recommendations of that review group, the Scottish Government agreed that the time had come to licence grouse moor businesses and also committed to licensing muirburn, and to ban burning on deep peatland soils, our vital carbon stores.

Duncan Orr-Ewing, Head of Species and Land Management, RSPB Scotland

A strong deterrent and meaningful sanctions are now required if nature protection laws are breached and to stop the blight of illegal killing of birds of prey. NatureScot must also have the powers to remove the licence to shoot grouse for a defined period. Those responsible grouse moor owners and who work with the public authorities to enhance raptor populations should not be concerned by such a system. In most other European countries gamebird shooting is licenced in some form and to safeguard public as well as private interests. In Scotland other natural resources exploitation, including cutting of timber and abstraction of water, are already licenced.

In recent years muirburn has also come under the public spotlight due to the damage caused by major wildfires tying up the resources of the fire services. A significant number of wildfires are due to agricultural and sporting muirburn getting out of control set in the context of dryer springs caused by climate change.

Our peatlands are our vital carbon stores covering 20 per cent of the country, and store the equivalent to 140 years of Scotland’s total greenhouse gas emissions. The Scottish Government has committed £250 million over the next 10 years to help restore some of the 80 per cent of peatlands that are degraded and to help deliver Net Zero commitments. This public investment must not be undermined.

The Scottish Government has proposed a precautionary approach to muirburn, including licensing, and banning muirburn on peatland soils. We strongly support these measures, which do not stop all muirburn, but simply ensure better protection for public interests. In the context of the nature and climate emergency, these actions are long overdue.

Duncan Orr-Ewing, Head of Species and Land Management, RSPB Scotland