{"id":20034,"date":"2019-08-02T06:11:48","date_gmt":"2019-08-02T06:11:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/?p=20034"},"modified":"2021-01-19T13:37:21","modified_gmt":"2021-01-19T13:37:21","slug":"can-i-take-it-home-natures-collectibles-and-the-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/can-i-take-it-home-natures-collectibles-and-the-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Can I take it home? Nature’s collectibles and the law"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Ben<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

In my last column I wrote about my innate urge to collect natural objects and my growing unease with how that hobby sits within the whole ‘leave no trace’ ethos. The question I considered was an ethical ‘should I?’, but in this column I’m considering a different question – a very matter-of-fact ‘can I?’<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Collecting natural \u2018stuff\u2019 and even taking photos might seem the most inconsequential of pursuits, but it isn\u2019t as straight-forward as you might think. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some things might need landowner permission before you remove them. Other things are generally okay to take but only if you are sparing and you\u2019re not going to sell them commercially. And some things can result in a fine or even imprisonment if you take them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the most part our wildlife laws are there to guard against those who would knowingly and deliberately harm or exploit a given species (egg collecting is an obvious high profile example of this), but these days even reckless behaviour or inadvertent disturbance can be considered an offence in some cases. I thought I had a fairly good working knowledge of the ins and outs of wildlife protections but I don\u2019t mind admitting I hadn\u2019t realised just how heavily regulated some animal remains are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Wildlife laws exist to help protect our natural heritage<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This exact issue came up in the course of writing last month\u2019s column when I was informally chatting to friends, colleagues and other rangers about how much nature \u2018stuff\u2019 they have personally accumulated in their homes or offices over the years. Two different people both cited personal experiences of having unwittingly fallen foul of regulations, albeit with the best of intentions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first was about as outdoorsy a person as I\u2019ve ever met, whose family were walking along a beach in Sutherland when they found a dolphin skull lying on the sand. They took it home and one of their kids, who was very into the natural world at the time, wrote an online blog about it. I can\u2019t remember whether he was writing it for Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) or another environmental body, but whoever it was had to contact the family and advise them that the article, which they otherwise loved, was problematic because you need a licence to possess dolphin bones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second was someone who\u2019d found a roadkill otter by the side of the road near Inverness. She\u2019d picked it up and transported it to someone who she knew had a licence for possessing otter remains and who might be able to use the animal for environmental education. Years later she was doing a course in ecological consultancy that included a module on protected species, at which point she realised she\u2019d have needed a licence even to transport the otter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those stories made me think, that if ecologists and other folk who spend all day every day in the outdoors are unaware of the rules & regulations then what chance do the rest of us have?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I naively thought it might be easy to summarise the rules and regulations for you but it\u2019s been an absolute nightmare! While some rules are pretty straight-forward, the fundamental problem remains that there\u2019s no one place you can go where all this information is displayed in friendly layman\u2019s terms. That\u2019s hardly surprising given the laws protecting wildlife and governing access to the countryside are written in impenetrable language where your brain ties itself in knots with each new clause or subsection. And to make matters worse, if you can\u2019t find a clear answer to your question on official websites then you inevitably have to venture into the wild west of the internet. The forums!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The responses you get can seem cogent and persuasive, but more often than not they contradict one another despite the various contributors stating them as fact. You end up more confused than you were before! Worse still, your investigation takes so much time and effort that you start to wonder if it\u2019s not better to remain in ignorance and instead just rely upon common sense in the field. That\u2019s understandable, but ignorance isn\u2019t a defence. And because I\u2019m sure that most people would want to do the right thing and be above board in the eyes of the law, hopefully this summary of the key rules and laws might be of some use\u2026..but I hasten to add some of it is just my interpretation. Ugh, I\u2019ve got a headache already!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where to start<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The Scottish Outdoor Access Code is undoubtedly the best place to start if you\u2019re wondering what you\u2019re allowed to do in the countryside, because before you even consider taking something home you need to know whether you have the right to actually stand where you\u2019re standing. Fortunately in Scotland we have progressive legislation that secures us access to most of the countryside, but it\u2019s always worth checking to make sure you\u2019ve understood your rights correctly. The Code puts our access rights into simple language that we can all understand, whether you\u2019re walking, cycling, camping, climbing, paddling or whatever. You can find it on the SNH website and download the entire guide as en e-book: https:\/\/www.outdooraccess-scotland.scot\/<\/a>. It\u2019s worth having your own copy saved locally somewhere, as it frequently comes in useful not least when you\u2019re challenged and you\u2019re not sure of your rights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Every home should have a copy!<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Handily, towards the back of the Code in Annex 1 there\u2019s a list of \u2018Existing criminal offences created by statute\u2019, which includes overviews of any laws concerning damage or disturbance to wild animals, birds and plants. However, because the Code is an \u2018at a glance\u2019 guide you\u2019ll need to go elsewhere if you\u2019re looking for greater detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) is our national nature agency, and their website has a good A to Z of protected species in Scotland<\/a>, in which they outline all the relevant laws relating to each species and the circumstances under which you might require a licence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another good place to get an overview of wildlife and countryside law is on Naturenet<\/a>. Although they\u2019re coming at the legal aspect of things from a mostly England & Wales perspective, their overviews of UK-wide and EU wildlife laws are very useful and easy to understand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Animal bones and the law<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Most of the animals you might encounter when you\u2019re out and about are afforded a degree of protection under various laws. Some, like badgers, have their own special legislation but the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 is the main piece of legislation that protects our wild animals. Some of these animals are legally protected not only from exploitation and harm, but also from disturbance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The species with extra protections within that Act are called \u2018Schedule 5 species\u2019. SNH have a full list<\/a> of all the ones you\u2019ll find in Scotland but they include red squirrel, pine marten, adder, common lizard and common frog. An offence is committed if you \u2018kill, injure or take\u2019 a Schedule 5 specimen, but importantly for our purposes, an offence is also committed if you \u2018have in your possession or control any live or dead wild animal \u2026.. or anything derived from<\/strong><\/em>, such an animal\u2019. That would of course include bones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the Act does list exceptions so I checked SNH\u2019s licensing website to clarify. They say that where most Schedule 5 species (and also badgers) are concerned \u2018a licence isn\u2019t required to possess a specimen if you can show that it was killed or taken legally.\u2019 I wasn\u2019t sure whether \u2018taken legally\u2019 allows for taking the remains of an animal that died of natural causes so I contacted SNH directly, who replied:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The legislation doesn’t specify circumstances that would be considered legal or otherwise, but it would be up to the individual taking the specimen to satisfy themselves that the animal has died lawfully, or naturally. If they suspect the animal did not die lawfully, then we would recommend they report this as a possible wildlife crime to Police Scotland on 101.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The upshot of this in a practical sense is that in most instances, provided you simply happen upon bones when you are out and about, and you aren\u2019t intending to sell whatever you\u2019ve found, then it\u2019s probably okay to possess animal bones. That said, as I understand it the \u2018burden of proof\u2019 would still be on you if for some reason you were ever asked how you acquired them. Hence it being entirely sensible to document and photograph such remains when you find them so that you can show evidence of how they came to be in your possession. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the dolphin and the otter are exceptions because they are European Protected Species under the Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994, and these require licences to possess ANY part of them, even a bone or a skull. Other European Protected Species in Scotland include all our species of bat, all our porpoises and whales, the great crested newt and the Scottish wildcat. Licences for possession aren\u2019t just handed out to just anyone, however. They\u2019re only issued for scientific, research or educational purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But…. who actually owns remains? <\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Having established whether or not it\u2019s \u2018lawful\u2019 to actually possess the remains of certain animals, you might think it was case closed. But no, because the question remains as to who actually owns animal remains when you find them. The landowner? Do you need permission to take them? Or does nobody own them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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My own investigation into whether or not I\u2019m legally allowed to take antlers (and presumably, therefore, any other animal bones) from a hillside perfectly illustrates the problem. I searched online and found that same question innocently and cheerfully posted in several walking and stalking forums, only for the subsequent \u2018debates\u2019 to grow increasingly ranty as they became conduits for wider access gripes in Scotland. Among the many opinions stated as fact that I encountered were:<\/p>\n\n\n\n