SBAG Scottish Beaver Advisory Group Meeting - 25 April 2024

Attendees:

Chair: Jill Robbie
Roisin Campbell-Palmer, Beaver Trust
Hugh Dignon, Scottish Government
Nadia Flaherty, Scottish Land and Estates
Donald Fraser, NatureScot
Erin Garner, NatureScot
Graeme Heenan, Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park
Rachel Helliwell*, Centre of Expertise for Waters
Kate Maitland, National Farmers Union Scotland
James Nairne, Scottish Beaver Group
Sarah Robinson, Scottish Wildlife Trust
James Silvey, RSPB
Helen Taylor, Royal Zoological Society of Scotland
Juli Titherington, Scottish Forestry
Alan Wells, Fisheries Management Scotland
Jonathan Willet, Cairngorms National Park Authority

*attended virtually

Apologies

Bethan Akgun (Scottish Water), April Armstrong (Confor), Connie Black (Scottish Water), Jenny Bryce (NatureScot), Catherine Damen (COSLA), Kenny Kortland (Forestry and Land Scotland), Scot Mathieson (Scottish Environment Protection Agency), Alan McDonnell (Trees for Life)

Welcome and introductions

The chair opened the meeting by welcoming attendees to Battleby. The chair reflected on the site visits facilitated by NatureScot and held on the previous day, including the benefits of seeing beaver impacts and mitigation schemes at various sites and engaging with landowners on their experiences.

The group agreed that the visits were beneficial. Scottish Land and Estates expressed disappointment that there was not a site with significant conflict included in the visits. NFUS agreed and offered to facilitate a future visit for the group.

Minutes of previous meeting – 25 January 2024

The minutes of the previous meeting were approved as an accurate record.

Action points and matters arising

August AP 6: NatureScot to review the ToR to ensure consistency. Outstanding.

All draft ToRs are available and review is underway. NatureScot will provide feedback to the subgroup chairs in the coming weeks to allow for finalisation.

August AP 7: SBAG to approve the sub-groups ToR. Outstanding. Aiming to schedule for August meeting.

January AP 1: NFUS (Kate Maitland) and Scottish Land and Estates (Nadia Flaherty) to arrange a session for licence holders as a means of NatureScot providing updates and for licence holders to feedback to NatureScot (Jenny Bryce and Donald Fraser) on the licensing process. Discharged. Meeting held 5 March 2024.

Feedback on the meeting was positive and the session has already led to progress with encouraging carcass returns (where feasible).

The group discussed the different notification requirements between older and newer licenses, with newer licenses requiring either a carcass return or notification to NatureScot if retrieval is not feasible. Existing older licenses without this condition are due to expire soon.

The group further discussed licensing requirements, changes to the reporting period, the shared approach to wildlife management and impact of and on woodlands.

In response to a specific case raised by Scottish Land and Estates, Beaver Trust advised that they have capacity to assist with late trapping requests but are limited by the number of available release sites, which has been raised with NatureScot.

April AP 1: Scottish Land and Estates (Nadia Flaherty) to send further detail on the case raised to NatureScot.

January AP 2: Discussion on genetic research and population management to be scheduled for a future meeting with RZSS in attendance. Discharged. Discussed at Research and Innovation subgroup and covered under Sub-group updates at this meeting.

January AP 3: NatureScot to provide a breakdown of the management and mitigation budget in April 2024 covering 2023/24 spend. Discharged. NatureScot to circulate figures to the group. Appended to minutes.

Sub-group updates

Fish and Fisheries (Chaired by Alan Wells, Fisheries Management Scotland)

Alan Wells provided an update on the Fish and Fisheries sub-group, which held its third meeting last week.

Topics at the most recent meeting included NatureScot translocation guidance and work by the Beaver Trust and its English partners to develop a dam passability assessment tool. The sub-group also agreed to develop a paper on priority research.

Communications (Chaired by Sarah Robinson, Scottish Wildlife Trust)

Sarah Robinson provided an update on the Communications sub-group. The sub-group has now drafted a communications plan, which has been made available to members.

The sub-group agreed to defer to the full Scottish Beaver Advisory Group for a decision on where to host information online (eg NatureScot’s website, the existing UK-wide site or a new website). The group agreed to use NatureScot’s website for signposting to information for Scotland, including links to existing mitigation sites as relevant. The sub-group will now identify and collate existing publicly available information for inclusion.

April AP 2: NatureScot to circulate a link to the UK-wide beaver management website.

At its next meeting, the sub-group will discuss targeted communications, including on how to live alongside beavers and information for those living in areas where beavers are likely to move to.

Research and Innovation (Chaired by Aileen Mills, University of Newcastle)

NatureScot had been provided with an update on the Research and Innovation sub-group which was relayed to the group.

The sub-group has met twice and plans to meet four times per year moving forward. The spring and autumn meetings will be themed and open to a wider group. The first themed meeting will be held in May and focus on genetics and health. The sub-group plans for future meetings to be ahead of Scottish Beaver Advisory Group meetings to allow for a report on recent progress.

The wider group then reopened discussion on the genetics paper from Royal Zoological Society of Scotland which was discussed in October 2023. The group noted that the existing beaver population in Scotland is largely descended from a small number of families, which has resulted in challenges to the genetic diversity of the population. As a result, there may be a future need to introduce beavers from different origin to support and improve genetic diversity.

Beaver Trust advised that Natural England are also investigating beaver genetics and that Beaver Trust are happy to facilitate shifting beavers between populations to support genetic diversity.

The group discussed existing protocols for genetic sampling and noted that samples are already taken as part of all translocations for the founding populations, but not following generations. 

The group considered barriers to progressing and/or expanding this work, including costs of sampling, storage and analysis.

The group agreed for the Research and Innovation sub-group to finalise a list of their priorities, including a list of projects for potential master’s or doctoral work which can be circulated to universities for consideration.

April AP 3: NatureScot (Donald Fraser) to advise the Research and Innovation sub-group on the scope for developing a list of priorities and potential research projects.

April AP 4: Cairngorms National Park Authority (Jonathan Willet) to contact university partners for an update on developments in eDNA technology.

Management and Mitigation (Chaired by Roisin Campbell-Palmer, Beaver Trust)

Roisin Campbell-Palmer provided an update on the Management and Mitigation sub-group.

The sub-group has hosted presentations from NatureScot and the Environment Agency and has discussed existing mitigation data, health and safety best practice and managing mitigation for infrastructure.

The sub-group plans to hold themed meetings moving forward, with the next to focus on woodlands. The Fish and Fisheries sub-group expressed an interest in this and Roisin advised that invitations for themed Management and Mitigation sub-group meetings will be extended to members of the other sub-groups.

The group noted that there is no confirmed written position from the Scottish Government on the impact of beaver presence on grant funding and discussed various challenges to increasing riparian woodland cover (eg deer, beaver, landowner enthusiasm).

April AP 5: Chair to draft a letter on behalf of Scottish Beaver Advisory Group requesting clarification about beaver impacts on grant funding.

The group discussed other potential areas of interest for the sub-group, including flood bank damage and ongoing water gate projects.

April AP 6: NatureScot to provide an update regarding fish use at current water gates, following discussion at the January 2024 meeting.

Translocation updates

Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) advised that three releases took place in December 2023 at Rothiemurchus and Wildland and that the Beaver Trail at Rothiemurchus is now operational. In March, one pair and two families with one kit each were released at Insh Marshes. In total, there have been 18 beavers over six release sites and all are settling in well.

Forestry and Land Scotland (FLS) were unable to attend but submitted an update to the chair advising that nine beavers from Tayside have been released on FLS land over the last six months (seven into Knapdale and two into Tay Forest Park). FLS are scoping additional sites for further translocations in autumn 2024. Further consultation regarding the possible translocation of beavers into Glen Affric has taken place and discussions are ongoing.

Beaver Trust advised that over 60 beavers had been trapped and released at 13 sites across Scotland from March 2023 to March 2024, alongside work in England and Wales, with no notifiable diseases recorded. They advised that more release sites are needed to support future translocations.

Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park advised that the previously released pair on the Loch Lomond NNR is still in place.

NatureScot provided an update on the review of Strategic Environment Assessment (SEA) and Habitats Regulations Appraisal (HRA) requirements. A review of the documents over five catchments highlighted opportunities to simplify and streamline these given the similarity of outcomes in each process. NatureScot aim to have a revised procedure in place towards the end of summer.

The group considered potential sites for future translocations. Beaver Trust advised that they would benefit from a working list of sites available for use. The group discussed potential differences in approach for in range versus out of range translocation sites.

AOB

The chair advised that the next meeting in August will mark one year as chair. She proposed producing a Scottish Beaver Advisory Group progress report covering the group’s work over the year and providing an update on progress against the action plan and strategy. The group was supportive of this and discussed the best way to capture updates against specific actions.

Scottish Land and Estates advised that they are considering the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Bill and potential amendments concerning compensation for impact from re-introduced species.

April AP 7: Scottish Land and Estates (Nadia Flaherty) to contact the secretariat with details of the proposals for circulation to the group.

RSPB advised of recent site surveys on the Forth and Clyde, with confirmation that a beaver family is now present on the Clyde.

Summary of outstanding and new actions

August AP 6: NatureScot to review the ToR to ensure consistency.

August AP 7: SBAG to approve the sub-groups ToR.

April AP 1: Scottish Land and Estates (Nadia Flaherty) to send further detail on the case raised to NatureScot.

April AP 2: NatureScot to circulate a link to the UK-wide beaver management website.

April AP 3: NatureScot (Donald Fraser) to advise the Research and Innovation sub-group on the scope for developing a list of priorities and potential research projects.

April AP 4: Cairngorms National Park Authority (Jonathan Willet) to contact university partners for an update on developments in eDNA technology.

April AP 5: Chair to draft a letter on behalf of Scottish Beaver Advisory Group requesting clarification about beaver impacts on grant funding.

April AP 6: NatureScot to provide an update regarding fish use at current water gates, following discussion at the January 2024 meeting.

April AP 7: Scottish Land and Estates (Nadia Flaherty) to contact the secretariat with details of the proposals for circulation to the group.

AP 3:  NatureScot Beaver Projects spend summaries

2022-23 summary

Mitigation budget
Spend description	Amount £K
Civ-Tech project contribution	87
Professional services (eDNA analysis, PMs)	6
Beaver advice and mitigation call-off contracts	30
Watergate fencing contract	20
Equipment	17
Total operating budget	160

* does not include staff time

Translocation budget
Spend description	Amount £K
Partnership agreement for practical delivery of beaver translocations	12
Baseline survey of Loch Lomond NNR	14
Contribution to beaver population modelling tools	4
Total operating budget	30

2023-24 summary

Mitigation budget
Spend description	Amount £ K
Civ Tech project contribution and sonar/radar burrow surveys	50
Professional services (PMs, cryobanking, electrofishing).	13.5
Beaver advice and mitigation call-off contracts	21
Watergate construction	10
Equipment (incl water level monitor data charges).	5
Total operating budget	100

* does not include staff time

Translocation budget
Spend description	Amount £ K
Partnership agreement for practical delivery of beaver translocations.	76
Monitoring Loch Lomond translocation	4
Contribution to beaver population modelling tools	7.5
Total operating budget	87.5