NatureScot to enact compulsory deer cull on Sutherland estate

The Scottish government has used a legal power for the first time to force the owners of a Highland estate to cull red deer on their land.

The compulsory deer management control scheme could see Scotland’s nature agency, NatureScot, step in to reduce numbers of the animals on Loch Choire Estate in Sutherland.

There are concerns grazing by deer is damaging mossy peatland called blanket bog at four sites of special scientific interest (SSSI).

NatureScot said the action was approved by Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie and taken after a voluntary agreement on a cull could not be reached.

The estate’s Shropshire-based owners More Works Holdings have 28 days to lodge an appeal against the control scheme.

NatureScot culled 160 deer on the estate in 2023 because it said the owners failed to manage their numbers. NatureScot have said further action is still needed.

Technical adviser to the British Deer Society (BDS), Charles Smith-Jones told ST: “The BDS would always prefer to see voluntary, collaborative agreements to manage herding deer at a landscape scale, but we recognise that this has not been possible in this case.  We acknowledge the support that the local Deer Management Group and ADMG have given this course of action.