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Scotland Will Develop National Plan for Breeding Greylag Geese

A flock of greylag geese grazing in Strathclyde Park, Scotland
Conservation · Management

Scotland will develop a national management plan for its breeding greylag geese (Anser anser) and continue exploring adaptive harvest approaches until that plan is in place. The commitment is part of the Scottish Government’s Goose Policy Delivery Plan 2025–2030, published on 24 March 2026.

The delivery plan sets out how Scotland intends to implement recommendations from its review of national goose management policy. The overall framework is designed to balance conservation obligations with farming, crofting, public funding and other practical issues associated with large goose populations.

A national plan for Scottish breeding greylags

One of the plan’s priorities is the development of national and international species management plans. For greylag geese, work will continue to improve confidence in population estimates for the re-classified Icelandic population, and those results will help determine the scope of a future flyway-wide plan.

At the same time, Scotland will begin developing a national plan specifically for its resident breeding greylag geese. The government describes this as short-term work that is expected to be completed in the medium term, with the Scottish Government Rural Payments and Inspections Directorate leading the resident greylag plan together with NatureScot.

Adaptive harvest remains part of the approach

A separate recommendation in the delivery plan focuses directly on management of greylag geese. It states that mechanisms allowing farmers and other land managers to take more responsibility through an adaptive harvest model will continue to be explored until the national management plan has been developed.

Scotland has already used adaptive management pilots for greylag geese. The new delivery plan places that work within a broader five-year policy framework intended to move goose management away from short-term, year-by-year arrangements where possible.

Balancing conservation and agricultural impacts

The Scottish Government describes wild geese as an important part of the country’s natural heritage and notes that many populations have increased strongly since the 1970s. At the same time, high concentrations of some geese can cause serious crop damage, creating long-running conflicts for farmers and crofters in affected areas.

Sources and image credit

  1. Scottish Government. (2026, March 24). Goose Policy Delivery Plan 2025–2030. https://www.gov.scot/publications/goose-policy-delivery-plan-2025-2030/Primary Scottish Government delivery plan. It commits to developing a national plan for Scottish breeding greylag geese, beginning in the short term and finalising it in the medium term, while adaptive-harvest mechanisms continue to be explored.

Image: Alan O'Dowd — greylag geese in Strathclyde Park, Bothwell, Scotland, 1 February 2019; Wikimedia Commons / Geograph Britain and Ireland; representative Scottish image · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source

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