20 Years of the Scottish Raptor Monitoring Scheme

In 2022, the Scottish Raptor Monitoring Scheme (SRMS) celebrated its 20th anniversary. This article reflects on the origins and development of the Scheme as well as its main achievements of the last two decades. Scotland’s breeding raptors include several iconic and charismatic species of conservation importance. These are often involved in high profile ‘conservation conflicts’ with some land uses and developments. Having the best information available to inform conservation issues around raptors was a key reason for the formation of the SRMS.

Origins

The origins of the SRMS can be traced back to June 1995, when a Parliamentary question was asked about the impact of growing raptor populations on game bird management and racing pigeons. The UK Government response to that question was to form the UK Raptor Working Group to examine the issue and make recommendations for the future. That Group comprised representatives of Government (both UK and what was then the Scottish Executive), environmental and conservation groups, land and game management bodies and racing pigeon unions.1

In 2000, following 25 meetings and taking into consideration submissions from a range of individuals and organisations, it produced the Report of the UK Raptor Working Group (https:// data.jncc.gov.uk/data/7934aae3-e6ec-46fa-8b5e20fc271967d4/2000-Raptor-Working-GroupReport-SCAN-WEB.pdf ). This report included 25 43:2 (2023)