Deer Management Strategic Board minutes: June 2024

Attendees and apologies

Robyn Chapman - Scottish Government Nature Division (Secretariat)

Hugh Dignon - Scottish Government Nature Division

Simon Jones - Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority 

Donald Fraser - NatureScot

Jamie Hammond - NatureScot

Robbie Kernahan - NatureScot

Donald Henderson - Deputy Director, Scottish Government Nature Division (Chair) 

Doug Knox - Forestry and Land Scotland

Grant Moir - Cairngorms National Park Authority 

Paul Roberts - NatureScot

Apologies

Alan Hampson – Scottish Forestry

John Kerr – Scottish Government ARE

Brodie Wilson – Scottish Government Nature Division

Items and actions

Welcome & Review                              

Donald Henderson welcomed everyone to the meeting introducing Doug Knox who has joined the Board as Forestry and Land Scotland representative replacing Simon Hodgson.

The group agreed the minutes from the meeting of 4 March 2024 and discussed outstanding action points from previous meetings.

AP (SG/NS) Vision statement  – The Board noted the vision statement had now been published. Robyn to circulate link to webpage around the Board.

AP (NS/CNPA) – Draft proposal to be drawn up based on inclusion of deer management within new agricultural support payments framework. It was agreed that an update paper would be provided at September Board Meeting.

AP (SG) – Robyn Chapman to publish the minutes of meeting of 4 March 2024 on the Scottish Government website now that they are agreed.

Agenda Item 3 – Reflection from Site Visit

The Board had had a morning site visit at Glenheighton Estate with Professor Sir Hew Strachan. The visit had focussed on deer management within estates with an interest in commercial forestry. The Board noted that Glenheighton had a mix of sporting and commercial objectives in their deer management and that many other estates would have similar multiple objectives in their management. There was a particular focus on Sika deer management at Glenheighton. The Board had heard how this presented particular challenges in terms of time taken to control Sika versus roe deer and also about types of damage done to trees by Sika deer. It was noted that Professor Strachan had said he thought that a community larder in the area would help incentivise additional culling. The Board found the discussion engaging and valuable and were grateful to Professor Strachan for hosting the visit and for his time and expertise .

 

Agenda Item 4 – Herbivore Management

Hugh Dignon provided an update on the progress against the herbivore management actions. Discussions within SG were ongoing on how species management might fit into a future rural support programme. No decisions had been taken, but deer management was one of the topics being considered for future inclusion. Budget considerations, the competitive nature of the proposed tier 3 schemes, and the likely implementation schedule for the new programme were all factors to be taken into account.

The Board noted that they remained keen to see rural support become available to support deer management.

Agenda Item 5 - Consultation Update

Hugh Dignon updated the Board on the initial findings of the consultation which closed on 29 March. Final analysis is expected by the end of July.

AP (SG) – Robyn Chapman to circulate update around Board Members.

Agenda Item 6 – Government Funded Schemes  

Following the last Board Meeting discussion on incentivising deer management NatureScot presented their paper to update the Board on the proposed pilot projects to incentivise deer management being developed by NatureScot and CNPA. Three pilot schemes are in development. NatureScot are planning two pilot schemes where NatureScot will pay an agreed sum per deer shot to either the deer controller or land owner.

1. These schemes will be focussed on sika deer in a forestry context (south Loch Ness area) and
2. Roe deer in a lowland context (north of Glasgow). Maps and more detail is provided in Annex one, below.
3. CNPA have developed a scheme focussing on estates managing red deer within the National Park.

The SG’s climate Change Update package announced in April had included a proposal to provide support for deer culling and the provision of larders. The Board agreed it would be sensible to combine this support with that already identified by NatureScot. NS and SG agreed to discuss further with the aim of ensuring a scheme or schemes were live before the end of the year.

AOB

The next meeting is due to be held on 2 September 2024.