SBAG Scottish Beaver Advisory Group Meeting - 8 May 2025

Welcome and introductions

The chair welcomed the group to the meeting and thanked Hugh Dignon for his time whilst a part of the Scottish Beaver Advisory group. Sam Turner will now represent Scottish Government. Pete Short joined Jonathan Willet for the meeting.

Feedback from CPSG – Jamie Copsey

CPSG have a process to check in on strategies that they have been involved in developing three years after the planning workshops.  An anonymous survey was sent out to stakeholders involved in the development of the beaver strategy to complete. Jamie shared a presentation on the results of the survey - the presentation is available via Objective connect. Some of the key findings were as follows:

• The majority of stakeholders agreed that their views were accurately reflected in the strategy and have made use of the strategy.
• The workshops had helped to better understand the views of others and make them more aware of the challenges of managing the species.
• The initiation of the Scottish Beaver Advisory Group has been a positive addition and was felt to be important and valued.
• The impact of the strategy on policy and management scored lower. Whilst some recognised the progress has been made on delivery, others felt progress has been slow and some issues have not been resolved.
• Comments reflected the desire for updates on strategy progress to be communicated more widely than SBAG members.   

Any further questions on the survey findings can be directed to Jamie. 

There was some discussion of how to engage with wider stakeholders on strategy progress. Minutes and updates have been added to the webpage, but updates may need to be more proactive to reach wider stakeholders. It was reflected that it is challenging to report on the Strategy as the actions are not framed in such a way as to enable SMART reporting and many actions are ongoing.

Minutes of previous meetings

Minutes of the previous workshop and meeting on 27 February are to be revised and recirculated prior to the next meeting. 

Actions points and matters arising

• Further to the Ness workshop it had been suggested to map areas of high sensitivity to other species interests (lichen/salmon) and overlay them, to identify where there might be high risk from beaver presence.
• There was discussion at the workshop that the population model from which some scenario outputs were shared, did not take account of topography – with the Ness catchment being particularly steep and hence it was questioned whether the outputs for predicted beaver occupancy were reliable.  Aileen Mill has come back with further details to clarify that the habitat mapping on which the model is run does include a parameter for slope, with steep ground being less likely to comprise suitable habitat for beaver, though the model itself operates in 2 dimensions.
• An outcome of the Ness workshop was the possibility of the sharing of data between organisations.

LLTNPA offered that classification of watercourses for bryophytes was available from renewables work. 

At the workshop Ness District Salmon Fishery Board offered to share data on spawning sites with NatureScot to carry out a spatial analysis of potential conflict between spawning sites and any predicted downstream capacity for beaver damming. 

The British Lichen Society had offered to provide data on bryophytes; noting that gaps in the data does not necessarily reflect an absence of sensitive species. NatureScot will carry on discussions as to how this information can be shared and taken into account in considering translocation applications and assessments.

27/02/25

Ness Catchment Workshop AP 1. NatureScot to circulate details of the population model and how it operates/ assumptions. Discharged. Assumptions and parameters summary has been shared with SBAG.

New AP1 8/5/25: NatureScot to look to collate datasets to identify key sensitivities such as Salmon, lichen and where the high-risk areas are located, whilst also exploring areas where the risks are lower. 

SBAG
AP1. NatureScot to circulate the details of what is included in the Postmortem work/ protocols. Discharged. Several carcasses have now been submitted from licenced control, which was welcomed.

AP2. Comms subgroup to consider developing a pack (similar to those sent around by CNPA) that could be used in areas where beavers are expanding naturally and have not been subject to public engagement. Noting there are existing resources that could be utilised. Ongoing. The communications subgroup have agreed to develop an information pack for areas where beavers have expanded naturally. 

A discussion was held on the issues surrounding natural dispersion. An issue raised was the importance of hosting physical roadshows and drop in discussions to provide information to residents of areas where beavers are expanding naturally, alongside the discussed communications pack. The Chair has discussed this with the Communications subgroup secretary and asked for the subgroup members to consider this is their discussions.

AP4. NatureScot to re-share the code of practice on beaver lethal control with the group. Discharged. 

22/08/2024

AP6. NatureScot to provide an update regarding fish use at current water gates. Ongoing. A summary of the numbers of fish was shared and a full report will be shared when finalised.  There were more fish (salmon and trout) upstream this year than the year prior to the gate being installed. Data on fish size is available, with a statistical analysis to be carried out after data is collected in summer 2025. There are beaver upstream that are still being trapped out hence it is currently undetermined if the gates are effective in deterring beavers, however none have been observed to pass on trail cameras at the water gate. The Fish and Fisheries sub-group would like to discuss this further at their next meeting.

AP7. The Chair agreed to look at options for gathering cross-sectoral interests to discuss the challenges. SEPA offered to provide an appropriate contact. The chair had a meeting with SEPA and Tayside Adaptation Partnership with the action to host a workshop at the August SBAG meeting to discuss floodbanks. Propose discharge as a specific action point.

Sub-group updates

Research and Innovation Subgroup: 

The subgroup will hold their next meeting during the third week of May with guest speakers organised, focussing on social dimension of beavers. Updates will be available at the next SBAG meeting in August. 

Fish and Fisheries Subgroup:

The next subgroup meeting is to be arranged. The group discussed the Beaver Dam Assessment tool and advised that it is not suitable for Scotland and will need some refinement. There are still further discussions to be had regarding this. 

Communications Subgroup: 

The next subgroup meeting is to be arranged. The pack for community engagement is on the groups to do list for the next meeting in August. 

Mitigation and Management Subgroup:

The subgroup has successfully met to discuss topics such as woodland creation, agriculture and have been working on meeting the challenges arising. The next subgroup meeting will be held in conjunction with the fish and fisheries subgroup. 

Actions from Mitigation and Management sub-group – woodland creation themed meetings

Minutes and actions were circulated to the group. A bit of work remains to be done by the group Chair and secretary to present this information for sharing with other organisations and to publish the recommendations on the SBAG webpage. 

New AP 2. 8/5/25: The chair and group secretary to discuss further publishing and sharing the group’s recommendations.

Translocation updates

Beaver Trust reported there have been further wild releases into the Trossachs on FLS land. This season there have been 75 animals trapped. The first official release of beavers was made in England with quite a bit of publicity surrounding it. Natural England has put out a call for expressions of interest for wild beaver releases. 

CNPA reported this season releases have been made in the Cairngorms on four separate sites; Spey, Loch Morlich and a couple of Wildland sites – all appear to be successful. 10 beavers’ families/groups have now been released out of the 15 that are licenced, with the rest to be released over the next two to three years. Nine territories have been identified as having been established from the released beavers. With more capacity, the team are carrying out kit watches. A discussion was had regarding the movement of beavers, with one beaver having travelled over 50 miles to Fochabers and another c 5 miles from the release site. It was asked if this type of dispersal data could be added to the population model. It was noted the model does include dispersal but there is little data on long distance dispersal, so this is not currently included. With more information, such parameters can be updated to include these types of movements. 

There has been a lot of correspondence regarding the FLS Glen Affric licence application with the NatureScot Beaver team responding to correspondence from stakeholders, both for and against. NatureScot is planning to discuss the specific concerns of land and fisheries managers in the area and the mitigation that would be available to them before reaching a decision. A question was raised on whether the delays on the Glen Affric decision will have wider implications.  NatureScot advised that each licence is assessed on its individual merits.

Plan for August workshop on floodbanks

The plan for the August workshop is for site visits to take place on the 20 August, with a workshop and SBAG meeting to be held on 21 August. If members of the group have any suggestions for site visits or guest speakers, the chair is happy to take on recommendations. Site visit recommendations were for both areas of high and low conflict. It was suggested that the River Restoration Centre report for the Isla could be recirculated and that a member of the SEPA hydro morphology team also be invited to attend the site visits. 

New AP3. 8/5/25: NatureScot to recirculate the RRC and NS report to the group (from 2022), prior to next meeting. 

Some discussion of the costs of taking action versus the cost of not taking action and how these can be used to inform decisions/ financial support for measures. Cost benefit analysis approaches should account for such considerations. 

New AP 4 8/5/25: NatureScot to determine if there are cost implications for not installing mitigation and management practices.

Any other business

NatureScot noted plans to produce a Beaver Management Report for licence returns for the period April 2024 – 31 March 2025. It was suggested this would be a slimmed down version of previous years, but including the key information on licence returns, mitigation cases, trapping and translocations and postmortems. It is hoped to publish this prior to next meeting in August. 

Licensing of flood bank repairs in KDP – It was asked if landowners can apply for an exceptional licence if they are identifying burrowing impacts in banks during kit dependency. NatureScot has been working with stakeholders to put together a species protection plan/ Code of Practice in order to enable such works to be carried out and to minimise the risks to beaver welfare. Exceptional licences will require inspections of burrows prior to any work taking place such as putting out cameras to see if burrows are in use. It is important for applicants to note that they want to undertake flood bank repairs on their exceptional licence application.