With our deer management sector undergoing significant change Best Practice Guidance has never been more important.
Douglas McAdam, Chairman,
Wild Deer Best Practice
With the 2024/25 season behind us it is time to focus on the season and year ahead, a year that will undoubtedly bring some significant changes to the deer management sector in Scotland with the Natural Environment (Scotland) Bill passing through the Scottish Parliament. Change is coming and Wild Deer Best Practice (WDBP) has been considering what this means for our current suite of guidance for deer management professionals and practitioners. The core purpose of WDBP when it was set up was to safeguard public safety; to ensure food safety; and to take account of deer welfare as practitioners go about the business of deer management in Scotland. That remit has not changed and so with the upcoming changes it is important to ensure guidance for practitioners is up to date in terms of legislation and legal requirements, to keep them and the public safe and to ensure that as a sector of individual practitioners we are working to the highest standards to ensure public and food safety and to do so in a way that prioritises deer welfare.
To that end the Steering Group, as well as working on new guidance driven by legislative, policy and technology change, are also in the process of undertaking a full review of all the guides in the WDBP suite to ensure all the guides are up to date and fit for purpose for the sector. We have also been developing a new website to ensure that the guides are as accessible, digestible and useable for practitioners as possible. So the workload for WDBP is a full one. There are new guides to produce, some driven by legislative and policy changes as mentioned above and others driven by things such as technology improvements eg use of drones to support deer management. WDBP are also taking WDBP out to support practitioners in the field, delivering a range of specific WDBP events and training across Scotland, such as our Woodland HIALite programme, and also supporting sector organisations in the delivery of their own events. Such training and events are promoted on social media and will be listed on the new website in due course.
Central to all this work is the role of the WDBP Steering Committee who on behalf of the sector work with myself as Chairman and our Best Practice Officer Louise Farmer to ensure the guidance produced is right and fit for purpose. The role of the Steering Group is essentially to provide governance and technical expertise, to actively promote WDBP to their respective constituencies and memberships/employees as well as to wider audiences, to develop, review and agree content for new and existing guides, to recommend topics for new guides, and to have collective ownership of the process and its activities, including holding WDBP focused events for their memberships and employees. The Steering Group is a comprehensive collection of people, some representing key organisations in the deer management sector and others as individuals with highly relevant skills and expertise. Combined, all bring a diversity that reflects both the core purpose of WDBP and the highly diverse nature of the deer management sector in Scotland.
Funding to operate WDBP and produce and manage the suite of WDBP guides has in the past been largely provided by NatureScot, with Steering Group member organisations providing in kind support such as time, expertise, venues etc. However in a new development that better reflects a modern private and public sector partnership approach, key Steering Group member organisations have also contributed funding along side NatureScot to enable WDBP to undertake more activity and outreach to deliver our core purpose. As Chairman I very much welcome this development and think it reflects well the importance both the sector and Government place on WDBP.
Every time I write about deer management in Scotland I seem to be saying this, but given the current climate, impending legislative changes and the continuing spotlight (no pun intended) on wild deer and their management, it is plain to see that Best Practice and associated guidance has never been more important. To all the practitioners involved in the sector out there, if you are not already familiar with the suite of WDBP guides I urge you to invest time to look at these and familiarise yourself with this guidance. You can find all the guides as a free source to read, download and print on our website.
For those already engaged with WDBP and using the guides, please look at the Steering Group, spot your organisation’s representative and contact them with your thoughts on WDBP, your input will always be welcomed.
Finally, may I wish all a good season ahead.
Douglas McAdam
Chairman WDBP