Grouse licences — now the burden of proof is shifting

A practical amendment to the Muirburn and Wildlife Act, which could be a lifeline to grouse moor operators, appears to have been made by NatureScot. The Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024, which came into force in July, banned the practice of snaring in Scotland, strictly regulated the use of muirburn and introduced a new licensing framework for grouse moors. 

Initially, grouse moor licences covered the whole of the landholding. The recent changes now mean that it will be up to the person applying for the licence to specify the area to which the licence relates. Only the area where grouse shooting actually takes place now requires licensing. Suspected crimes involving birds of prey, or unexplained disappearances of them, outside this area will have to be evidentially linked to the grouse moor operators for their licences to be revoked. 

Before this NatureScot was in theory able to revoke a grouse moor licence if there was an unexplained disappearance of a bird of prey on any part of a landholding. This left grouse moor operators open to having their businesses destroyed through the natural deaths of birds of prey on their land, and placed the burden of proof on them to show their innocence. 

The amendments mean that to revoke a grouse moor licence now, the alleged wildlife crime must be within the designated shooting area or proven to be linked to it. This change gives grouse moor businesses slightly greater protection from the damage of false allegations of wildlife crime. 

Anti-shooting campaigner and Wild Justice co-founder Ruth Tingay referred to these useful changes as “utterly shambolic”. However, they are likely to benefit the shooting sector, protecting rural jobs that would in turn promote moorland biodiversity. 

Andrew Gilruth, chief executive of the Moorland Association, told Shooting Times: “The changes announced by NatureScot to the Scottish grouse moor licensing system reflect the fact that the legislation was poorly drafted in the first place. As in England, Scottish estates are already subject to a raft of legislation covering almost every aspect of their operation. The licensing scheme remains based on an outdated and prejudiced view of grouse moors. 

“We don’t need a licensing scheme anywhere in the UK — we should be congratulating grouse moor owners for having more birds of prey than all of the RSPB’s nature reserves combined.”