Caper­cail­lie Emer­gency Plan Pro­gramme Board meeting

Wed­nes­day 29 July | Park Author­ity office, Grant­own-on-Spey and Teams

Attendees

• Alex Macleod: North Region Man­ager, Forestry and Land Scotland
• Andy Ford: Dir­ect­or of Nature and Cli­mate Change, Park Authority
• Car­o­lyn Robertson: Cairngorms Nature Man­ager, Park Authority
• John Risby: High­land and Islands Con­ser­vat­or, Scot­tish Forestry
• Shona Shent­all: Head of Oper­a­tions Cent­ral High­lands, NatureScot

1. Intro­duc­tions

Shona Shent­all was wel­comed to the Board fol­low­ing Chris Donald’s retirement.

2. Glen­more / Aber­nethy wildfire

The ongo­ing wild­fire in Glen­more Forest Park and Aber­nethy Nation­al Nature Reserve was dis­cussed. It is the largest wild­fire recor­ded in the Cairngorms Nation­al Park and has affected one of the UK’s most import­ant caper­cail­lie land­scapes. The imme­di­ate and longer-term impacts on caper­cail­lie remain unknown. It was agreed that pub­lic com­mu­nic­a­tions would remain react­ive until the impacts of the wild­fire are clearer.

It was noted that the affected area rep­res­ents only part of the wider core caper­cail­lie area and that the Caper­cail­lie Emer­gency Plan provides a strong frame­work for respond­ing. Deliv­ery can be adap­ted and increased else­where, informed by the Research and Mon­it­or­ing Plan, to help mit­ig­ate the impacts of the fire.

Hab­it­at works due to be delivered in Aber­nethy as part of the Caper­cail­lie Emer­gency Plan may be affected, depend­ing on access, burn sever­ity and staff capa­city. Fund­ing for affected works could be redir­ec­ted to accel­er­ate hab­it­at improve­ment else­where, par­tic­u­larly in con­nect­ing wood­lands. The rob­ocut­ting pro­gramme planned in Glen­more as part of the Caper­cail­lie Emer­gency Plan is still expec­ted to be fully delivered, with work recon­figured out­side the burnt area.

3. Draft ²⁰²⁶⁄₂₇ Nature Res­tor­a­tion Fund (NRF) work programme

A draft Nature Res­tor­a­tion Fund work pro­gramme was reviewed. It is focused on con­tin­ued deliv­ery of the Emer­gency Plan hab­it­at improve­ment pri­or­it­ies of wood­land graz­ing, rob­ocut­ting, fence remov­al and wood­land restruc­tur­ing. The pro­gramme will be delivered by 31 March 2027, build­ing on the pro­gramme suc­cess­fully delivered last year and con­tin­ued high levels of engage­ment from land managers.

Bog wood­land res­tor­a­tion was high­lighted as an area of the Emer­gency Plan where fur­ther pro­gress is needed. Work this year will focus on identi­fy­ing oppor­tun­it­ies for bog wood­land and wet area res­tor­a­tion across the core caper­cail­lie area, with some deliv­ery this year and the major­ity expec­ted next year.

It was noted that pro­posed wood­land restruc­tur­ing on Dor­back Estate should be reviewed along­side the estate’s long-term forest plan, which is cur­rently being updated.

4. Pro­gress­ing deer fence remov­al in core caper­cail­lie areas

The Board dis­cussed how to accel­er­ate deer fence remov­al across the core caper­cail­lie area in the Nation­al Park. In the last six months, over 12km of deer fen­cing has been removed from with­in 5km of act­ive lek sites in the Nation­al Park. This has been delivered as part of the Emer­gency Plan, but over 50km of deer fen­cing remains. A multi-agency effort is needed to enable more pro­gress and it was agreed that engage­ment with land man­agers should ideally be led by rel­ev­ant agency staff, work­ing to prin­ciples agreed by the Pro­gramme Board.

Great­er flex­ib­il­ity to fold deer fences to stock-fence height could aid pro­gress, par­tic­u­larly for bound­ary fences. It was agreed that cla­ri­fic­a­tion was needed on wheth­er fold­ing a fence would trig­ger a Hab­it­ats Reg­u­la­tions Assess­ment (HRA) or only if it was sub­sequently returned to deer-fence height. Once cla­ri­fied, it was agreed that all land man­agers with iden­ti­fied at-risk fences should be approached.

The Board also dis­cussed sup­port for deer man­age­ment as a means of keep­ing fences out of the core caper­cail­lie area. Longer-term deer reduc­tion was con­sidered bet­ter suited to multi-year sup­port through the Forestry Grant Scheme (FGS) rather than annu­al NRF fund­ing. How­ever, NRF sup­port for thermal drones to enable more effect­ive deer man­age­ment and help avoid the need for fen­cing was sup­por­ted. This should be linked to a long-term forest plan and com­pli­ant with inter­im guid­ance from NatureScot regard­ing drone use in caper­cail­lie areas.

5. Deliv­ery arrange­ments / staffing

The Board dis­cussed how to sus­tain cur­rent ways of work­ing, with Park Author­ity staff work­ing dir­ectly with rel­ev­ant land man­agers to provide an effi­cient link between the Pro­gramme Board and deliv­ery of the Emer­gency Plan. This was con­sidered along­side the RSPB Caper­cail­lie Advis­ory Officer post, which is cur­rently fun­ded by RSPB with an annu­al Park Author­ity contribution.

Future options include Pro­gramme Board part­ners con­trib­ut­ing to a post hos­ted by the Park Author­ity. As joint leads for the Emer­gency Plan, either the Park Author­ity or NatureScot was con­sidered the pre­ferred host. Head­count con­straints were noted and fur­ther dis­cus­sion, includ­ing with RSPB, is needed before options are brought back to the Pro­gramme Board.

The Board also noted the cur­rent role of the RSPB Caper­cail­lie Advis­ory Officer in sup­port­ing access to FGS fund­ing and provid­ing advice to Scot­tish Forestry. With agen­cies now hav­ing dir­ect access to caper­cail­lie data, screen­ing can be under­taken inde­pend­ently. Some sup­port with data inter­pret­a­tion may still be required, but this could poten­tially be provided by exper­i­enced agency staff.

Actions

1. Car­o­lyn to update the draft ²⁰²⁶⁄₂₇ Nature Res­tor­a­tion Fund work pro­gramme in response to the Board’s feedback.
2. Shona to cla­ri­fy the HRA implic­a­tions of fold­ing deer fences to stock-fence height.
3. Car­o­lyn to devel­op and cir­cu­late options for future staff­ing and resourcing, reflect­ing the Board’s discussion.