A dry-looking piece of Holyrood paperwork will make a real difference on the hill this autumn. The Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 (Consequential Amendments) Regulations 2026 were made on 20 August, laid before the Scottish Parliament on 24 August and take effect on 10 October 2026. What that means in practice is straightforward. Older environmental agreements across rural Scotland will now point to the modern Muirburn Code under the 2024 Act, rather than older guidance leaflets dating back to 1988 and 1993.

The change reaches Environmentally Sensitive Area agreements in Loch Lomond, Breadalbane, the Central and Western Southern Uplands, the Cairngorms Straths, the Central Borders, the Stewartry, the Argyll Islands and the Shetland Islands. For crofters, farmers, estates and common grazings committees, that is the detail that matters. If muirburn is part of an existing agreement, the recognised standard is now the code prepared under section 18 of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024.

Some of the older orders were still tied to the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group leaflet The Principles and Practice of Heather Burning, published in 1988. Others were still pointing to Scottish Natural Heritage's A Muirburn Code from 1993. That may sound like a paper exercise, but anyone who has dealt with land management rules knows how quickly old references turn into muddle on the ground. These amendments are there to stop one set of laws saying one thing while an older agreement points somewhere else.

The explanatory note attached to the instrument sets out why ministers are doing this now. Part 2 of the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act 2024 comes fully into force on 15 September 2026, and the note says the new licensing scheme 'replaces the 1946 Act regime' for muirburn from that date. So this is not a fresh political row dressed up as regulation. It is Holyrood bringing the rest of the rulebook into line before the old Hill Farming Act system drops away.

Shetland gets particular attention in the wording, with amendments covering agreements with crofters or farmers as well as agreements with common grazings committees. In island areas, where land use is often shared as well as individually managed, that matters. The same applies in other upland and marginal farming areas touched by these orders. Whether the land sits in the Borders, Breadalbane or the Argyll Islands, people need one clear set of rules on burning rather than a stack of half-retired documents.

The regulations also tidy up other pieces of environmental law. The Conservation (Natural Habitats, &c.) Regulations 1994 are amended so duties around habitat compliance and wild bird habitat take account of Part 2 of the 2024 Act. The Environmental Regulation (Significant Environmental Harm) (Scotland) Order 2014 is updated too, and the 2016 order on authorised operations swaps an old Hill Farming Act reference for section 14 of the 2024 Act. In plain English, the legal plumbing is being reset so licensing, habitat duties and enforcement all point to the same current law. For land managers, that kind of consistency matters far more than the dry title of the instrument suggests.

The regulations were signed at St Andrew's House in Edinburgh by Jim Fairlie, authorised to sign by the Scottish Ministers, on 20 August 2026. They come into force on 10 October, a few weeks after Part 2 of the 2024 Act is fully commenced on 15 September. For readers across the North, the politics will feel familiar even if the statute is Scotland-only. The further a rule sits from city offices, the more important it is that it is clear, current and workable for the people expected to follow it on croft land, grazing ground and open hill.