Grouse shoot licensing is now in operation. After acceptance of an application, compliance with licensing and code requirements will be monitored through declarations and the provision of information returns. Epicollect mobile app recording established by GWCT Scotland is intended to build up and retain key information requirements for these purposes, helping grouse moor owners, tenants and keepers demonstrate compliance and best practice. More information on recording is available through our Scottish Advisory Team here. Our reflections on the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Act are available in a blog, which you can read here.
We’ve just finished collating results for the fourth year of the Raptor Transect Survey Project for Scotland’s Regional Moorland Groups. Carried out from April-July each year, independent surveyors record the presence of raptors along 10km routes in different areas of moorland across Scotland.
The aim of this work is to build a simple index of conservation status for key raptor species, with the goal of enabling the GWCT’s biometrics team to detect long-term trends and raptor conservation status indices in these areas.
Initial review shows that 523 individual raptor records were submitted from 15 transects, compared to 484 records on 16 transects in 2023. This year, golden eagle records increased from 26 to 59 – more than double the number recorded in 2023, most strongly on the Grampian and Angus Glens transects. These surveys are increasingly giving us a better picture of raptor numbers on different areas of heather habitat, helping to illustrate the contribution of moorland and its sustainable management to Scotland’s biodiversity. You can find out more about the survey findings here.
The Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act was passed in June, paving the way for farm subsidy support to change from an area-based approach towards payment for environmental outcomes. It includes provision for a sustainable and regenerative farming code of practice, which the GWCT policy and Scottish Demonstration Farm teams will be assessing. The Act also provides scope to support landscape-scale collaboration. GWCT Scotland has long argued the case for facilitation funding, like the assistance provided to farmer clusters in England.
Farmer cluster research findings from a survey and workshop held in late June (funded and attended by Scottish Government) are that facilitation funding is essential for the development of farmer clusters and landscape-scale collaboration in Scotland. The GWCT and two of our clusters contributed to the workshop.
Key presenters and project stakeholders at the Balgonie Farmland Arable
Biodiversity walk and talk event in July. (Photo credit: Ross Macleod)
We had a successful walk and talk event in July at Balgonie Farm, home to our Farmland Arable Biodiversity (FAB) project, supported by PepsiCo. We’ve also had positive discussions about farmer cluster development in the Borders, Central Fife and with the ‘Project Deveron’ river catchment team in NE Scotland. We look forward to turning these discussions into reality!