Explore how best to support optimal herbivore densities to enhance biodiversity outcomes in the uplands.
Objective 1: Accelerate ecosystem restoration and regeneration
Priority Action 5. Substantially reduce deer densities across our landscapes in parallel with ensuring sustainable management of grazing by sheep to improve overall ecosystem health
The Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2026 requires the development of a national Deer Management Plan, which will be a key mechanism for addressing herbivore impacts on biodiversity.
Work to define appropriate deer densities and management approaches is therefore ongoing and linked to the development of this plan. While there is clear policy direction to reduce deer impacts in priority areas, there is not yet a published framework setting out target densities or a national approach to achieving optimal herbivore levels across upland ecosystems.
NatureScot and the Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2026 provide the legal basis for a national Deer Management Plan, which is intended to address herbivore impacts on biodiversity, particularly in upland systems. While there is clear policy intent to reduce deer impacts in priority landscapes, there is currently no published national framework defining optimal herbivore densities or setting out how target levels will be achieved across different upland ecosystems. As a result, management remains focused on broad policy direction and localised intervention rather than a consistent, system-wide approach to herbivore pressure aligned with ecological carrying capacity or habitat recovery needs. A national framework setting density targets linked to habitat condition could significantly improve upland biodiversity outcomes by enabling consistent herbivore control, supporting woodland regeneration, and reducing pressure on peatland and montane habitats.
Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2026
Scottish Government – Managing deer in Scotland consultation (2024)
Managing deer in Scotland consultation analysis (2024)
The management of wild deer in Scotland: Deer Working Group report
Introduce new deer legislation which will modernise the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996 and introduce new powers for intervention for the purposes of enhancing or restoring nature, including preventing biodiversity loss.
Attain deer cull at level at which habitats and ecosystems can recover and regenerate, and where deer densities are maintained at sustainable levels. This is done by increasing the national cull by 25-30% (from 200,000 – 250,000) sustained over several years; achieving densities of 5-8 deer per km² in each of the DMG’s in the Cairngorms National Park; and, low deer densities of around 2 deer per…
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