Driving north up the A9 on Saturday Andy Cloquet observed muirburn on five sites between Dalwhinnie and Newtonmore with “an acrid smell over five miles of road” and sent parkswatch these two photos.
The ostensible purpose of the Wildlife Management & Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 (“the Act”), which was passed by the Scottish Government last March and received Royal Assent at the end of April, was to improve how sporting estates like Phoines (see here) were being managed. The measures in the bill were supposed to end the most egregious practices involved in boosting the numbers of red grouse to shoot, including raptor persecution and the destruction of peatland.
The response of sporting estates like Phoines to the very poor breeding seasons for red grouse in 2021 (see here) and 2023 (see here) and a recent downward trend in numbers appears to have been to intensify the way they are managing grouse moors still further.
On the same day Andy took his photos, I went a walk on the Glen Lethnot Estate, a “small” 3000 acre intensively managed grouse moor (see here) in Angus which lies just outside the boundary of the Cairngorms National Park. A high proportion of the muirburn, evident from the black patches but also the lingering smell of burned heather, appeared to have taken place over the last year or so.
Initially, I thought the recent burst of activity might have been an attempt to pre-empt Clause 20 in the Act which should have changed the effective legal muirburn season from 1st October to 30th April to 15th September until 31st March. Although only a reduction of two weeks, with most muirburn in the past taking place in the Spring, some conservationists had hopes that as well as protecting ground nesting birds the change would make it harder for sporting estates to burn the land. The generally dry weather of the last few weeks illustrates that was a forlorn hope. Grouse moor managers only need a couple of dry weeks within the muirburn season to burn large areas of land.
On returning home, however, I found that Clause 20, along with most of the other provisions of the Act, have not yet come into force. Only Clauses 35 and 36 of the Act (see here) came into force on the date of the Royal Assent with the implementation of the other clauses being left to the discretion of Scottish Ministers.
In July two statutory instruments were passed (see here) and (here). These put the Muirburn Code (Clause 18) onto a statutory footing from 1st July, introduced the licensing scheme to shoot grouse (clauses 9 and 10) from 24th July and banned the use of snares from 25th November.
None of the other main provisions of the Act have yet been implemented including: clauses 1 – 5 banning glue traps; clauses 7-8 introducing a requirement for licenses to operate wildlife traps and increasing the penalty for using spring traps to £40,000; clauses 12 – 20 (with the exception of clause 18) on the new muirburn licensing regime; clauses 24-31 on enforcement; and last but not least clause 32 requiring Scottish Ministers to review the effectiveness of the Act.
What this means in respect of muirburn is there is:
- still no requirement for sporting estates and others to apply for a muirburn license;
- still no consequences for those who burn on deep peat;
- still no requirement for those carrying out muirburn to go on approved training courses;
- still no change to the muirburn season; and,
- still no requirement on land managers to notify the neighbouring properties within 1km of muirburn activity.
The Act in my view always was a joke, designed to placate those who had been calling for grouse moor reform for the last 20 years (see here), while doing as little as possible to interfere with the legal rights of landowners to abuse the land as they wish. For example it did nothing to change the Scottish Government’s definition of peatland in Scotland – which applies to both muirburn and forestry – as being where peat is over 50cms deep and left this up to Scottish Ministers who have so far done nothing even to redefine it as peat over 40cms deep as they promised to do). And unfortunately notifying neighbours, such as Transport Scotland, that muirburn might be taking place within 1km of the A9 will do nothing to stop the public from having to inhale carcinogenic smoke. (Most grouse moor owners of course, are far away when muirburn takes place).
Since being passed, however, the Act has turned from a joke to a sick joke. Not only has most of it not been implemented but as Raptor Persecution UK has shown clauses 9 and 10, which were supposed to introduce grouse moor licensing to protect raptors, have been totally undermined by NatureScot and are effectively meaningless (see here).
The Scottish Government Minister responsible for the Act, Mairi Gougeon, visited the Glenlethnot estate, which is in her constituency, in 2022 for a muirburn demonstration (see here). This was before the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Bill was introduced to the Scottish Parliament in March 2023. It does not appear that Ms Gougeon was accompanied by any peatland or ecological experts who could have questioned some of the claims made by BASC, Scottish Land and Estates or Scotland’s Regional Moorland Groups on that visit.
Among those claims was that “muirburn targets just the upper lengths of vegetation and does not set fire to the soil or peat beneath”. “Shallow burns” may not set fire to the peat but they do burn the surface, as the above photo shows, and the exposed carbon is then left to oxidise releasing more CO2 (on top of that produced by the burning vegetation) into the atmosphere.
While a research report by NatureScot in 2022 (see here) concluded there was a lack of research on carbon emissions and muirburn, an excellent new article in SCOTTISH FORESTRY Volume 78 No 3 Autumn/Winter 2024 about “What do we know about the impacts of forestry on soil carbon in Scotland?” by Naomi Housego, Lorna E Street & Willie McGhee makes a key point:
“Scotland’s soils contain approximately 3,000 million tonnes of carbon in the top one metre of soil . This means that a loss of just 0.34% of Scotland’s soil carbon per year, in the form of carbon dioxide,
would roughly double national greenhouse gas emissions (equivalent to 11 million tonnes of carbon per year). Preserving Scotland’s soil carbon must be an urgent priority if we are to achieve the Scottish Government’s commitment to reaching net zero CO2 emissions by 2045″.
The question therefore is whether the burning in the photos above has released 0.34% of the soil carbon? I don’t think it needs more research, though that would help, to appreciate it must be considerably more than that.
In their blog on Mairi Gougeon’s visit BASC also claimed:
“Muirburn revitalises Scotland’s upland landscapes and creates a diverse mosaic habitat, which in turn, increases the abundance of iconic species such as lapwing, curlew, and golden plover.
“It is an extremely important land management tool, which is used effectively to tackle the twin climate and nature crises that Scotland is currently facing.”.
This is not true. The whole point of muirburn is to produce more heather, on which red grouse feed. This means less of other vegetation, including trees, which are not so tolerant of fire. The result of the sort of extensive muirburn which takes place at Glenlethnot (or at Balmoral in the Cairngorms National Park) is a heather monoculture. While that benefits a few species, as monocultures do, it harms many others – as the NatureScot research cited above explains. And that is before predator control, as practised on many sporting estates, attempts to remove a significant proportion of birds and animals from the landscape:
One wonders whether those demonstrating the dark art of muirburn to Mairi Gougeon pointed out to her the number of wildlife traps on the estate and what questions she asked about this?
Mairi Gougeon, if she had had any understanding of nature, could have used the evidence of what she had seen at Glenlethnot to press harder for grouse moor reform. The fact she did not suggests she had very little knowledge of upland ecology (not her fault) but accepted the misinformation fed to her on the day by grouse moor interests (which in my view she had a responsibility to fact check). That Mairi Gougeon allowed herself to be trapped by sporting interests is also suggested by this quote from Scottish Land and Estates (from an article in the Ferret about muirburn and peatland (see here)):
After the Bill was passed, Mairi Gougeon could also have defended NatureScot against the threat of legal challenges from sporting interests, as described by Raptor Persecution UK, but so far has chosen not to do so. It will be interesting to see whether she responds to the recent questions to the Scottish Parliament about the Scottish Government’s position on how the Act is being undermined (see here) or whether she leaves the response to her deputy, Jim Fairlie. However, as this post has shown, both Ms Gougeon and Mr Fairlie also need to be held to account for all the delays in implementing the other provisions in the Act.
Unfortunately, one is left with the impression that Mairi Gougeon and the rest of the Scottish Government value the interests of sporting estate owners above those of the public and the need to tackle the climate and nature emergencies. A first step to remedying that might be for Ms Gougeon to visit a grouse moor with some soil scientists and some ecological experts……………
Perhaps the Cairngorms National Park Authority, who are meant to be standing up for nature and climate, could arrange a visit to Balmoral for Ms Gougeon to understand for herself the destruction being caused by King Charles………whose assent was needed before any of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 could become law.
An appalling litany of the destructive and inhibitory characteristics of the Victorian-Edwardian Dystopia that blights much of upland Scotland.
The full extent of upland muirburn we see today is a fairly new phenomenon. Even till 50 years ago such regimented and systematic destruction of so much vegetation across so many upland areas was unknown.
It is all very well media focussed publicists today seeking to pin the blame on the so called ‘needs’ of shooters and trying to pass the buck to some sort of “Victorian Edwardian Dystopia”.
In fact decades of perspective as well as historical photographs will easily confirm this cynical practice of such widespread habitat destruction has only recently become more and more extensive. Today this destruction is seen from overflying aircraft – if not from space.
Since WW2 and the wartime need for upland flocks of sheep for food, the natural wild growth by then grazed down across so many upland areas through those hard years would have begun to return. It is modern day Land Managers that are become so misinformed and misdirected by purely commercial “spin”. It is they that are entirely to blame for these 21stC willfully burnt-off montane deserts. Without any doubt at all, Victorians who loved landscapes and wild places would also have been appalled to see such wanton selfishness.
I make no apologies whatsoever about using the term Victorian Edwardian Dystopia ( VED)and I’m making sure the buck stops at the correct location. What we have today is a direct derivative/continuation of the both the psychological and physical paradigm derived from that time.
That era saw, in juxtaposition, both the Highland Clearances and the wholesale massacre ( and there’s no other word for it) of meso-predators and avian raptors to suit estate landowners who were not exactly lacking in wanton selfishness.
Even in my lifetime I’ve witnessed the bodies of so-called vermin hanging on wire fences to display the machismo of the gamie. I also looked in ‘game’ books and saw records of hedgehogs, moles and ‘feral’ cats noted down.
All this is,is of course closely associated with the land monopoly interests which results in Scotland having one of the greatest concentrations of land in the fewest individual hands anywhere in Europe, a concentration that has only intensified despite two so-called land reform acts
You might be pleased with the VED and the BBB( Balmorality Brigadoon Balderdash) or the WST ( Waltery-Scottery-Twattery) but I’m certainly not.
Look more carefully at what was actually written. Maybe even take a moment as suggested to Search for early B/W vintage photographs of Scotland’s upland landscapes. There were so many of these old glass plate photos. Many are now saved as part of local museum collections. They were taken around the turn of the 19/20th Century.
They provide perpetual evidence of how these uplands once looked before old-growth forests were harvested to provide pit-props and construction timbers for the war effort through both world wars. Soe of us aliove now can see how it is only this past 50 years or so that the game bird “industry” have found so little reason not to systematically denude so many hills through desertification by a “rotation” of muirburn scars.
(My obsevation was no rant).
Of course the same “absentee” economic interests are also “driving” new roadways everywhere, just to get heavy machinery all the way to every wind turbine location. Another blight on Scotland’s landscapes.
Black and white photos, eh!? I’ve got coloured photos of ruined houses and deserted villages from the Victorian ethnic cleansing and now we’ve got carbon credit chasers turfing out shepherds .
In my experience, it’s not the heather that regrows, but mainly grasses and moss. Hence the striped landscape that remains for years after muirburn. So all in all a pointless waste of time causing long term damage.
Minor correction, the last picture shows Glen Girnock and the Coyles of Muick.
Interesting article. So depressing to see naturally regenerating pines on open moorland as is common around Deeside torched during muirburn, as is the damage to, and exposure of peat leading potentially to higher CO2 emissions.
Thanks for correction, fixed
tries 3 times to reply, but various tech probs with sitre
The SNP are shamelessly Tory in countryside matters happliy cosying up to the elites who run sporting estates. Meanwhile they promote diversity and inclusiveness among the urban hoypolloy. While they may think this a clever way to maximise votes for themselves across the country, it makes them appear political shape shifters, opportunistically deploying policies ad hocly to suit someone else’s agenda. For example, is Ms Gougoun aware that 97% of sporting estates are owned/controlled by white males over the age of 50? Maybe if we had more diversity and inclusiveness in land ownership we might have more diverse and inclusive land management and less dead grouse and golden eagles?
Absolutely spot on Douglas. No wonder the SNP binned our land commission report.
Indeed Ron. Even the NGOs that once would have stood up to the sporting estates and the government are muted, as they are also taking a Bob or twa from the powers that be. A new independent Land Commission might prove very useful in these times with yourself and Nick among others using science and scientific integrity to identify the real threats to nature and to guide Nature Scot and the National Park Board toward a more sustainable direction.
We can comment and discuss back and forth what has happened historically, but I believe we need to focus on what is happening in the present. This blog lays bare the continuing destruction of Scotland’s natural upland landscape by the so-called sporting estates, and the duplicity of the Scottish Government over its management of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 – or maybe I’m giving the SG too much credit – it could be plain naivety. NatureScot has much to answer for. It is clear that NatureScot is just acting as a vassal to the Scottish Government rather than making a strong case for the Government Minister to get on with enforcing ALL parts of this Act…… and recommending where the SG needs to go further.
In my view the Scottish Land & Estates and most of their members are acting in a similar fashion to the cigarette companies decades ago in doing everything they can to defend the indefensible. Muirburn must become highly controlled and only permitted in a few special extenuating circumstances. Additionally the controls on predator trapping in the Act need to be fully implemented now, in association with objective studies to gather evidence of the effectiveness of the controls on biodiversity.
all of which will take legislation at Holyrood. Can you see, bearing in mind Douglas’ comments above, that happening.?
I don’t think the situation is any better in the national parks. I understand that a significant patch of Caledonian Pinewood was destroyed by muir burn several years ago. Even then this would be unlawful at it was protected habitat. The estate in the Eastern part of the cairngorms National Park was let off needless to say and the cosy little relationship between the 2 has flourished with lots of our cash being thrown at the estate to restore Peatling using diggers.