‘Shoot licensing’ is imposed in Scotland

There won’t be much red grouse shooting on the moors this season, after unseasonal spells of cold and wet weather impacted chick survival rates. For Scottish moors lucky enough to be able to harvest a sustainable surplus of red grouse, shooting will only be permitted on landholdings covered by a red grouse shooting licence issued by the Scottish government’s conservation agency, NatureScot. 

The new licence requirement applies to both walked-up and driven grouse shooting (falconry is exempt). The licence holder will be the landowner or the person who formally holds the legal right to kill or take grouse. 

From this shooting season onwards it will be illegal to shoot red grouse in any area of Scotland on land not covered by a licence. Those doing so will be committing an offence, risking prosecution and the loss of their shotgun certificates. 

Licences may be suspended or revoked by NatureScot if breaches of the many terms and conditions are discovered. The conditions include mandatory annual bag returns of the number of red grouse shot on the land, to be submitted by the licence holder to NatureScot. 

The Scottish government brought in liability laws in 2011 designed to make landowners and sporting agents responsible for the actions of their employees in cases involving illegal killing of birds of prey. In 2014 it brought in powers to restrict general licences for landholdings where there was evidence of unlawful killing of raptors. 

However, this has not deterred a minority of criminals from continuing to shoot, trap and poison of birds of prey, thus putting added pressure on the Scottish government to act. Some conservationists called for a ban on driven grouse shooting, others argued for shoot licensing. 

Nature conservation in the UK is managed and it is an environment in which there can be instances of raptor species sometimes coming into clear conflict with other species of conservation concern, and with the economic viability of game shooting. 

As conservationists we want to maximise the biodiversity of the land we manage and, in the context of this article, that requires a more honest and less politicised approach to the management of birds of prey. 

There are those in organisations and government conservation agencies willing to find and advocate solutions across the divide. But every new raptor incident puts back progress towards a pragmatic and sustainable approach to nature conservation. 

Premature 

The ill-advised and premature licensing of grouse shooting in Scotland is one of several measures arising from the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act, which received royal assent in April. BASC and other shooting organisations successfully challenged many aspects of what was originally proposed, but the shooting community now faces new layers of regulation. 

We have warned that licensing schemes for grouse shooting, muirburn and certain traps could be ruinous to the rural economy and the species that gamekeepers work to protect. A legal precedent has now been set in Scotland, which may resonate with policy makers in Westminster and in the devolved administrations in Wales and Northern Ireland. However, if unlawful killing by the minority continues, there will undoubtedly be further repercussions for everyone involved in game shooting in Scotland and beyond. 

Applying for a five-year red grouse shooting licence seems relatively straightforward. When applications are approved automatically, a licence for a given area of land is available to download instantly. However, the online licensing system only launched on 15 July, and we have raised concerns about the process to ensure that the application and granting of the licence is in accordance with the Act and workable on the ground. Please check the BASC website for the latest updates.