Muirburn Licensing

The muirburn licence will be introduced on 15 September 2026. From this point onwards, a licence will be required to carry out muirburn on any land in Scotland.

It will be an offence to carry out muirburn without a licence from NatureScot. 

The Muirburn Season

From 2026 the muirburn season will change to 15 September – 31 March.  

Muirburn Training 

Section 12 of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 states that a ‘person intending to make muirburn on land to which the licence relates must complete a training course approved under section 13A before making muirburn’. 

Approved course details and training providers are available via the Lantra website: Muirburn Practitioner Foundation Course.

The training course is split into an online module and a practical module.

The practical element will be required from 15 September 2026. 

You can register for the online module

You must provide training evidence for 1 person when applying for a licence. 

Muirburn Code 2026

A revised version of the Muirburn Code has been introduced by section 18 of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024.

To view the Code, visit NatureScot’s website: Muirburn Code (July 2026)

For more information visit the Muirburn Licensing pages on the NatureScot website.

Supplementary Information

The collection of supplementary guidance is currently under review and will be published when finalised.

Peat Depth Survey for Muirburn

Identifying areas of peatland and non-peatland is fundamental to applying for a muirburn licence. This is because the licensable purposes are determined by whether an area is or is not peatland. Peatland is defined in Section 22 of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 as ‘land where the soil has a layer of peat with a thickness of more than 40 centimetres’.