Author: Playfair Walker

Rob Mearns and 5 year old mare Twiggy have won the Fred Taylor Memorial Trophy for Working Hill Ponies at the GWCT Scottish Game Fair.

This year saw a near record entry of 16 ponies.  In second place was Dalhousie Estates, with Balmoral Estate taking third.

The event which was first staged in 2013 was conceived by the Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Association of Deer Management Groups in memory of the late Fred Taylor, dedicated pony man and head stalker on Invermark Estate.  Since then it has become the ‘blue riband’ event for working hill ponies in Scotland.

Tom Turnbull, Chair, the Association of Deer Management Groups, said:

“It was an absolutely fantastic turnout this year and probably among the highest in this event’s history. It’s a superb way not just of remembering Fred but also keeping the long tradition of using ponies on Scottish upland estates and, indeed, the interest in breeding and training them, alive.  They are a wonderful part of upland moorland management and it’s a fantastic spectacle to see them at Scone with the stalkers and ghillies in their estate tweeds and the sparkling, spotless deer saddles and tack.”

As well as the Fred Taylor Quaich the winning estate receives free use of an Isuzu DMax pickup for 6 months, a bronze medal from the Highland Pony Society, and a bottle of Whyte & Mackay whisky, Fred’s favourite tipple.

Tom Turnbull, Chair of the Association of Deer Management Groups has called for the effort and commitment of stalkers, gamekeepers, estate staff and other volunteers to be recognised publicly and especially in the Scottish Parliament following the recent upland fires in Morayshire.  He said:

“Not only are these professionals undertaking moorland and upland management to prevent major incidents like this happening in the first place, but they are on hand to support the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service when such events occur.  Volunteers from estates all across Scotland have been quick to respond to calls for support, both in terms of manpower and equipment and, despite the recent rain we understand that there is still considerable work ongoing to bring ‘hot spots’ under control and the prevention of further outbreaks.

“Climate change is increasing the potential for wildfires so more public education is vital.  ADMG repeats the call in urging the public not to light fires in upland or woodland areas at any time, not to use disposable barbecues or to discard cigarettes, and to report anything they see that may be suspicious in terms of wildfire.  These ‘hot burn’ events cause untold damage to the environment, to biodiversity, woodland and wildlife and to peatland, and release huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere – all of which we are working hard to prevent.”

The publication of the Natural Environment Bill has put into sharp focus the change in emphasis from Scottish Government. The proposed changes to the 1996 Deer Act will enable NatureScot to use regulation not only to prevent damage but will also enable action to be demanded for the preservation, protection, restoration and enhancement of landscapes through the existing regulations, Sections 6, 7 and 8.

Whilst we are pleased that Scottish Government has dropped the controversial Deer Management Nature Restoration Orders, these proposed new triggers for intervention coupled with the ability to intervene to achieve “a relevant target, strategy, or plan relating to the environment, climate change, or biodiversity” give us significant concerns over a lack of clarity around who might be the target of regulatory intervention and at what level, as well as the subjective nature on which such intervention might be based.  ADMG will be seeking clarity and definition on these points.  Despite being much discussed in the run-up to the Bill’s publication the prospect of incentives is worryingly absent from the narrative.

We would also like to better understand how the changes within the Bill will apply to the lowlands of Scotland and those areas outside the established Deer Management Groups, as it would appear that they can only practically be applied to the Highland red deer range. It should not be lost on NatureScot that they rely on DMGs to deliver and report culls in the Highlands, to produce deer management plans, population models and undertake habitat monitoring. Voluntary collaboration on a landscape scale is at risk of being threatened by increasingly heavy-handed regulation such as that proposed. Historically we have seldom objected to the use of regulation by NatureScot but these new triggers may significantly change the socio economics in deer management and hinder any supposed ‘just transition’. Used incorrectly this Bill could break down the good working relationships that we have.

Our member DMGs provide deer management on a landscape scale in partnership with NatureScot. We are already delivering across the vast majority of the uplands, deer numbers are dropping, and 2023/24 saw the highest annual reported cull on record in Scotland. Deer managers are very aware of their vital role in the fight against climate change, and we all value improvements in biodiversity. We will be looking for assurances from Scottish Government that voluntary, collaborative Groups are valued and that actively participating in a Group will not result in increased exposure to or risk of regulation.

We are urging Scottish Government and NatureScot to concentrate on supporting, incentivising and facilitating deer management on a landscape scale and on supporting a buoyant venison sector, rather than threatening the deer management community with new triggers for intervention that may endanger effective future collaboration.

A deer management group in Aberdeenshire has become the first in Scotland to sign the Common Ground Accord.

Against a background of growing polarisation in the debate on deer management in Scotland, the Accord was created by the Common Ground Forum, an award-winning initiative which brings together those involved in managing deer in upland Scotland.

The Accord sets out a commitment to respect different land management objectives, engage with others both honestly and with an open mind and work together for mutually beneficial solutions.

The Upper Deeside and Donside Land Management Group has now become the first constituted deer management group to sign up to the Accord. The Group comprises seventeen land managers in the private, charitable and public sectors who work constructively together to manage wild deer and other common land-based interests in an area covering around a quarter of the Cairngorms National Park.

Mark Nicholson of Group member Mar Estate explained:

“There has been much heat in the last few years about whether there are too many deer or too few deer in some places, with socio-economic and environmental objectives sometimes being seen to clash.

“In the experience of our Group, the discussion often underplays the ability of people to work together. In the Upper Deeside and Donside area we have wide range of objectives both between and within estate members. The Group provides a place to understand deer populations and movements, identify conflicts and resolve them. These principles are exactly what the Common Ground Accord is about, exemplifying how collaboration can work.”

The Common Ground Forum emerged in 2023 from a two year Finding the Common Ground project in which civic mediators Centre for Good Relations worked with people from across the polarised upland deer management sector to start building trust and relationships. Project Manager for the Forum, Helen MacIntyre, said:

“It is often the case that communication is the key to delivering results. That is particularly true with wild deer which don’t recognise the boundaries we as humans create.

“The Forum takes this concept of communication and trust and seeks to find greater respect and collaboration throughout the upland deer management sector. Many deer management groups already do this, with successes as can be seen in the Upper Deeside and Donside area. The Forum broadens this approach, bringing together individuals and organisations who perhaps have not always communicated well with each other to encourage respectful dialogue and collaboration to achieve better outcomes for everyone.”

Tom Turnbull, Chair, the Association of Deer Management Groups, said:

“NatureScot has announced two incentive schemes for deer managers, one to the south of Loch Ness for sika, and another covering an area north of Glasgow and west of Stirling for all species but mainly roe and red. These pilots will run for three years and are based on the fact that deer management is delivered in almost all cases at a cost to the manager. A subsidy may therefore support Government targets of achieving the additional 50,000 reduction in deer numbers that is now being widely promoted.

“We welcome these schemes, although a national incentive scheme would have been fairer for everyone and would have supported Government and NatureScot in achieving their targets across the whole country, not just in areas which have undoubtedly been on the radar for action for some time.  We hope that there will be money available for a national scheme if one or both of the pilots are deemed a success sometime four years hence, and the pros and cons of the pilots should be reviewed regularly as they are rolled out with the intention of moving to a national scheme as was previously announced earlier this year by the Scottish Government.”

Richard Cooke, Chair, Scottish Venison, also responds:

“Whilst welcoming the schemes, and an additional initiative in the Cairngorms National Park, we think that they may have their shortcomings. We would like to ensure that the venison sector is also supported, Deer are, after all, the source of one of our healthiest red meat, and deer management has so many positive credentials such as combating climate change, aiding biodiversity recovery and, by reducing food miles, supporting local food for local people.

“Is the capacity and infrastructure in place to support our increasing venison output as we don’t just need to ensure that venison starts its journey along the supply chain, but we need a market that wants that product and the processing capacity to deliver it to the consumer? We have to be so careful not to devalue venison and that people buy it for what it is – a glorious healthy product from a natural harvest undertaken by skilled deer managers and of which we can all be proud.”

Read the NatureScot news release here.
More information on the schemes and how to apply here.

The Common Ground Forum had a successful stalkers event on 8 August at Fealar Estate. The weather was good and there was a packed crowd of over 60 stalkers from across Scotland. In the morning there were group discussions on doing more with less deer and managing deer and peatland, along with demos of drones, thermal safety and an app for recording and monitoring wildlife. After lunch everyone came together for a panel discussion, led by Centre for Good Relations, with representatives from Scottish Government, NatureScot, CNPA and ADMG. The event was a great opportunity for talking about what the future might look like for deer management, and for government to hear views from those on the ground.

The three organisations that last year set the concept of a venison subsidy in motion have welcomed yesterday’s announcement by Mairi McAllan Cabinet Secretary for Wellbeing Economy, Net Zero and Energy that work on venison is included in a set of measures for climate change action.

In the measures announced yesterday it was proposed that: “We will build on the current Cairngorms Deer Pilot to develop a national scheme which incentivises increased management and investment in the venison supply chain.”

In a joint statement the Association of Deer Management Groups, Scottish Environment LINK, and Scottish Venison, who jointly developed this initiative under the auspices of the ground-breaking Common Ground Forum of which they are founding members, said:

“The proposal announced yesterday for the development of a national scheme, further to the imminent pilot project in the Cairngorms, is a real-time result of wider collaboration across the deer sector.  Having jointly made the case for a venison subsidy, we are delighted that by working together – and being seen to work together – Government has now announced a move in this direction.

“This is recognition of the key importance of deer management to the climate and nature crisis. It has the potential to make supplying venison a break-even activity for the first time and will help to support jobs across the deer sector as a whole.  This in turn opens up the opportunity for investing in the business development of the venison sector, with scope for development of local enterprises that can allow more people to enjoy this healthy, eco-friendly and high-quality meat.

“We are also hopeful that funding support can be made available for the development of venison processing and whilst details of this and the wider scheme have yet to be confirmed this is all positive news for the sector.”

Tom Turnbull, Chair, the Association of Deer Management Groups, speaks out against the Deer Management Nature Restoration Order proposal which was a feature of the recent Deer Management for Climate and Nature consultation in Agenda in The Herald on 17 April 2024. Here’s the link.

Tom Turnbull, Chair of the Association of Deer Management Groups; Duncan Orr-Ewing, Convenor of Scottish Environment LINK’s Deer Group; Richard Cooke, Chair of Scottish Venison.  All are members of the Common Ground Forum.

Scottish venison is bringing people from all sides of the deer debate together.  Of all the qualities that deer management brings to Scotland, be it quality tourism or the skilled craft of our deer stalkers, Scottish venison is right up there as one of the most valuable products to come from our hills and forests.  At a time when differences of opinion on deer management are coming to the surface once more, this seems a good moment to write jointly about an issue, and an opportunity, which we each passionately believe in. 

Venison is a healthy meat, low in fat, high in flavour and has featured in Scottish cuisine, both lofty and humble, for centuries.  Most of our venison comes from wild, rather than farmed, deer populations that have been part of our landscapes for millennia.  While it may have a reputation for being expensive in some quarters, it sits in roughly the same price bracket as Scotch beef and lamb.  In short, we have a great product that is distinctively Scottish and highly marketable.

The clear direction of government policy is that deer populations in Scotland need to be reduced to help enable nature’s recovery and mitigate climate change across more of our landscapes.  A greater amount of work will be needed to implement this, with increased costs.  Venison sales are often the only income to offset these costs, but current prices fall a long way short of reflecting the true value of this high-quality product.  Research has indicated that it does not even cover the costs of hunting, letalone bringing venison to the market. 

And it is here that we see a clear opportunity for Scotland.  We have written jointly to the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Islands to ask her to consider allocating a small proportion of the public funding for land management to a venison subsidy.  We argue that doing so will directly support the additional deer management needed to allow our woodlands and peatlands to regenerate, while helping at the same time to secure the basis of a sustainable venison market that Scotland can be proud of for years to come. 

The investment required is estimated at £3-5 million per year, a comparatively minor part of Scotland’s annual ~£650 million land management budget.  This will contribute to the costs of deer management in delivering a range of vital outcomes everyone will benefit from – for nature, climate change, jobs in deer management and allowing deer, one of our finest national assets, to shine.  For all these reasons, we hope that the government will also see this as too good an opportunity to miss.

The discussions that us led to identifying this opportunity and to jointly write to the Cabinet Secretary took place under the Common Ground Forum, an initiative that brings together all those in the Scottish deer sector interested in a more collaborative approach to deer management, based on mutual respect and consensus building, can contribute to a vision of a greener, healthier and economically vibrant future.

Hear Richard Cooke interviewed on this topic on BBC Good Morning Scotland on 11 April 2024 via this link. Item starts at 10.20 in.

Tom Turnbull, Chair of The Association of Deer Management Groups (ADMG) has fired a broadside at proposals in the Scottish Government’s consultation on deer management which closes on Friday 29 March saying that if they progress to become law they will not only be the most radical changes to deer management in Scotland in living memory but be a major step backwards for the delivery of collaborative deer management in the future.

One major bone of contention is the proposal for the introduction of Deer Management Nature Restoration Orders (DMNROs). This is a completely new regulatory concept demanding reductions in deer numbers to levels to be specified over as yet undefined but potentially extensive areas and over an undefined timeframe, potentially decades. It is proposed that such orders would be implemented on the basis of ‘nature restoration and enhancement’ ie on a totally subjective basis, whereas current regulations can be applied to counter or prevent damage following a series of rigorous steps and negotiation with the land owner or Deer Management Group.

The penalty for a land owner for non-compliance with the new DMNRO is proposed as a £40,000 fine, 3 months imprisonment, or both.

Tom Turnbull says:

“This draconian measure completely over-rides the current system that we understood was to be updated through this latest round of changes to deer management regulation and legislation. It also blows the principle of voluntary deer management clean out of the water. There would be no room for negotiation and it’s unclear in the consultation whether there would be any mechanism for appeal. If it goes ahead it will almost certainly end up in the courts.

“Moreover, this concept was not one of the recommendations of the expert Independent Deer Working Group that was set up to advise government where legislation around wild deer might be improved and streamlined.  This has come completely out of left field – no science in support, no evidence that it will work – and actually at this stage very little if any detail, which is another reason for wanting to see it excised from any future thinking now.

“We are happy to talk to government about our concerns in more detail.

“We are also concerned by the information issued by the Scottish Government at the launch of the consultation which stated that ‘there are around one million wild deer in Scotland, up from around 500,000 in 1990’. This is completely subjective, and we challenge government to provide the science and evidence to support that claim.

“ADMG members are already committed and contributing massively to delivering on the Scottish biodiversity and climate change targets at landscape scale through regeneration and planting of woodland and restoration of peatbogs – and have been for the last 10 years and more.

“What is needed is facilitation and streamlining. Recent cuts of 40% to the Forestry Grant Scheme demonstrate Scottish Government’s lack of dedication to the very schemes that will support change.”

ADMG has also raised concerns that it is the upland deer range that is again being targeted for increased culls.  An uplift in the cull of 50,000 over five years was announced last year, but evidence through official reported returns shows a steadily rising cull anyway.

“It’s always the upland deer range,” says Tom Turnbull.  “That’s because there is a mechanism through the 50 or so Deer Management Groups, with published deer management plans, that are undertaking habitat monitoring and in almost all cases already reducing deer numbers – DMGs are an easy target for government to focus on and turn the screw.”

There is also the question of incentives.  Deer management is delivered at a cost to the manager/owner in virtually all scenarios, and the case has been raised with government that this reduction in deer numbers is in support of its climate and biodiversity targets and to be delivered in the public interest, but the increased cost burden is being carried by the private sector. 

“We are asking for financial support,” says Tom Turnbull, “and we will continue to ask, and developing incentives for deer management are supposed to be an important workstream for the Strategic Deer Board.  But the bottom line is that we don’t believe government has any money.  Basically, they want it all, but they want someone else to pay for it.”

ADMG’s response to the Consultation Managing Deer for Climate and Nature is available online here [link].

For more information about ADMG see www.deer-management.co.uk

To subscribe to the ADMG electronic newsletter e-scope here’s the link.

For more information or an interview with ADMG please contact:
Dick Playfair
Playfair Walker
Tel: 0131 445 5570
E: richard@playfairwalker.com