Wildlife Management and Muirburn Act – Important Update

As members may already know, the Wildlife Management and Muirburn Act (Scotland) Act 2024 received Royal Assent on 30 April 2024. Since then, we’ve been waiting for the commencement dates, which tells us when the various different parts of the Act come into force.

A Statutory Instrument has now been implemented for the following parts of the Act:

- On 1st of July, part of Section 10 of the Act takes effect. This allows the Scottish Government to amend the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 to introduce a licensing regime for the use of land for taking or killing certain bird species, and for ScotGov to delegate the creation of a Code of Practice – which is part of this licensing regime – to NatureScot. This is all procedural, being part of the background work being done by civil servants before they can introduce grouse licensing.

- On 1st July, parts of Section 18 and Section 21 of the Act take effect. This allows the Scottish Government to delegate to NatureScot the requirement for the Muirburn Code to be updated, which is part of the introduction of the forthcoming muirburn licensing regime in 2025. For now, this part has no impact on the winter 2024 burning season, but we will keep members updated.

- KEY DATE: On 22nd July, Section 9 and the remainder of Section 10 of the Act take effect. From this date, a licence from NatureScot will be required to shoot any red grouse in Scotland. This is for driven and walked-up. NatureScot will have an online licence application system, which we understand will be ready soon to allow applications to be granted in time for 12 August – but we will keep members updated.