Professor John Robertson OBA

From the Scottish Government today:

New licensing conditions for muirburn will not come into force until autumn 2026, Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie has confirmed.

In the aftermath of the wildfires which have affected many parts of the country and caused extensive damage to Scotland’s peatlands, the decision has been taken to move the commencement date from 1 January, when the relevant part of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act would have come into effect.

This follows extensive discussions with land managers, game keepers, estate owners and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS). Muirburn is the intentional and controlled burning of moorland vegetation to encourage new growth (either heather or grassland) for the management of moorland game and wildlife or for improving the grazing potential of the moorland for livestock or deer.

The Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament in March 2024 and includes a range of measures that will help tackle raptor persecution and ensure that the management of species on grouse moors is done so sustainably and with animal welfare as a priority.

The Bill:

• strictly regulates the use of muirburn, the controlled burning of vegetation on peatland
• bans the practice of snaring in Scotland
• bans the use of glue traps to catch rodents
• gives greater powers to Scottish SPCA inspectors to tackle wildlife crime
• introduces a new licensing framework for grouse moors

Link – https://www.gov.scot/news/muirbuirn-licence-scheme/

This diplomatic account conceals, I feel sure, a determined policy by the SNP to reign in grouse moor owners and managers, even if delayed by one year, who are responsible for turning Scotland’s uplands into deserts amenable only to the interests of small affluent elites and responsible for events such as the Brechin Floods of 2023 wrongly attributed to Storm Babet and to Scottish Government ‘failures.’

How so?

BBC Reporting Scotland 22 October 2024 were back on the October 2023 Storm Babet and the flood damage to Brechin, with locals complaining of a ‘ghost town‘ and an implied accusation of the Scottish Government not having done enough to prevent the floods in the first place or to help locals in the subsequent year.

There is only a simple acceptance here of climate change and the need for more flood defences, to stay in the same place.

There is no mention of research suggesting another, more scientific and forensic explanation and an identifying a cause which can easily be reversed.

In an extensive, thorough and evidence-based study, Nick Kempe, a researcher and writer at ParkswatchScotland, pins the blame squarely and simply on grouse moor management around the River Esk and upstream of Brechin and Montrose.

He writes:

The south east fringes of the Cairngorms north of Brechin include some of the most intensively managed grouse moors in Scotland or the wider UK.  In many parts of the catchment of the River South Esk managing the land for driven grouse shooting is the dominant land-use.

The muirburn, besides destroying peat which helps absorb rainfall, also removes surface vegetation, including plant litter, which helps slow the flow of water downhill.  The rate of water run-off is almost certainly sped up further where the burned strips are oriented downhill, rather than across slopes.

Meantime, a google search will reveal that organisations representing sporting interests have issued a stream of claims that intensive grouse moor management actually helps to reduce flood risk. 

Muirburn in fact does exactly the opposite of  “natural flood management”, the restoration of woodland and peat bogs to reduce the amount of water flowing into watercourses.  The conclusion is obvious.  If the Scottish Government and its agencies really want to reduce the amount of destructive flooding that affects places like Brechin they need to tackle grouse moor management.  Unfortunately Scotland’s whole system of flood prevention and management appears designed to conceal this fact.

Full report at: https://parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2023/10/27/storm-babet-the-angus-grouse-moors-and-the-flood-destruction-in-brechin/

I suspect the Bill also has as its heart the following:

Between 12% and 18% of Scotland’s total land area is currently reserved for grouse moors. Despite this, the economics of such activity has been shown to be significantly worse than any other reasonably conceivable economic activity. https://www.commonweal.scot/policy-library/back-life-mapping-scotlands-alternative-grouse-moors-december

Of all the possible uses of this land, grouse shooting is not only the least moral, it is by far the least economically effective. In fact, almost any other use will create more value and more jobs per hectare.

https://www.birdguides.com/news/grouse-shooting-is-the-least-effective-use-of-scottish-land/

Back in the day, Common Weal did things like this. In 2019, with the Revive Coalition they produced: Back to Life: Visions for Alternative Futures for Scotland’s Grouse Moors. It settled the debate once and for all. Common Weal presented some devastating numbers for the supporters of shooting. Neatly summarised for us by Bird Guides:

A new report has shown that, from an economic perspective, grouse shooting is the most ineffective use of Scottish land. The study, published on the final day of the Scottish grouse season, shows the bloodsport produced an annual gross value added (GVA) of just £30 per hectare.

The report – Back to Life – scrutinises a variety of other possible land uses, including agriculture, biomass, housing and solar power, and found all of them to produce far greater value. If the land was used for other purposes, horticulture would return the greatest GVA at £12,412/ha, followed by housing (£11,950) and solar power (£10,952). 

Horticulture, which currently uses 0.26 per cent of Scotland’s land area, would create 7,370 jobs, generate £261 million for the economy and would need 3 ha to create one job. In stark contrast, the report said grouse shooting, on the current land use area of 1.5 million ha, created 2,640 jobs, had an annual economic impact of £32m and required 330 ha to create. 

https://www.birdguides.com/news/grouse-shooting-is-the-least-effective-use-of-scottish-land/

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