It is good news that Forest & Land Scotland are planning to translocate beavers from the Tay catchment to areas within their estate. Ten areas are being assessed and three of them will actually get beavers if all goes well.

We don’t want to knock good news but it is important to keep it in perspective. Since beavers were afforded the highest level of ‘protection’ in 2019 a total of 289 animals have been shot legally, 87 of them last year. Translocations are welcome but the numbers so far are tiny compared with the numbers shot under licence.

In Nature Scot we currently have a body charged with protecting our wildlife that seems to have lost its way. There seems to be more interest in culling than protecting and changes to that policy seem to come about as a result of outside pressure not internal concern.

There have been particular problems at Nature Scot in the case of the Tay beavers which clearly need addressing with some urgency.

Individuals asking for advice about a possible beaver problem were immediately told to apply for a culling licence. In one instance subsequent investigation by an independent expert showed the presumed beaver damage was caused by vandalism.

An information pamphlet on beavers containing a photo of an otter was published and then quickly withdrawn.

A detailed pdf on how to kill beavers was produced as part of a training day run by Nature Scot on “Best Practice in Beaver lethal control”. We are not showing it here as complaints have been made about one of the photographs showing two small children holding a dead beaver and there are allegations that other material within it was used in breach of copyright.

We understand that we are not alone in wondering whether Nature Scot is fit for purpose and we are not surprised.