Develop and maintain effective compliance monitoring for grouse shooting licence conditions to ensure the legislation introduced in July 2024 acts as an effective deterrent to wildlife crime, particularly raptor persecution.
Objective 1: Accelerate ecosystem restoration and regeneration
Priority Action 7. Ensure Grouse Moor management sustains healthy biodiversity
Grouse moor licensing was introduced through the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024, and is now in force. The legislation enables NatureScot to attach conditions to grouse shooting licences and, where necessary, revoke or refuse licences in response to wildlife crime, including offences linked to raptor persecution.
At present, there is no publicly reported use of licence revocation or restriction powers, meaning the deterrent effect of the system has not yet been demonstrated in practice. NatureScot has established a licensing and compliance function, but detailed information on enforcement outcomes and compliance activity is limited in the public domain.
Concerns have also been raised in policy discussion about the design of the licensing approach, including its focus on grouse moor activity rather than whole estates, which may affect effectiveness in addressing wildlife crime risk at landscape scale. These issues are being considered through ongoing policy and legislative discussion.
Evidence from wildlife crime reporting indicates that raptor persecution remains a continuing issue in Scotland, highlighting the importance of effective enforcement alongside legislation.
NatureScot now holds regulatory authority to influence grouse moor management through licensing conditions and sanctions, creating a clearer route to address land-use practices linked to raptor persecution. However, the ecological effectiveness of this system cannot yet be assessed because there is no published evidence showing changes in compliance behaviour, reductions in illegal killing incidents, or measurable improvements in raptor population trends since implementation.
Wildlife crime data indicates that persecution risk remains present in the landscape, suggesting that deterrence depends not only on legislation but on how consistently conditions are applied, monitored, and enforced in practice. At present, the system is best understood as a regulatory tool with potential ecological leverage, but without demonstrated outcome-level impact on biodiversity. The key ecological benefit will depend on whether licensing is used proactively (including visible enforcement and sanctions), and whether it leads to behavioural change across estates operating within high-risk raptor persecution areas.
Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024
NatureScot – Red grouse and licensing
Wildlife Crime in Scotland 2024
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