Bowles Green Limited have completed a pilot research programme into public perceptions of wild deer management in Scotland. The research was undertaken on behalf of Scottish Natural Heritage, and sought to determine the most effective ways of understanding awareness and understanding, and of engaging with the Scottish public in relation to wild deer management. A number of different methods for collecting feedback from the public were explored, including focus groups, depth interviews, a face-to-face interview survey, a telephone survey, and a postal survey, within Edinburgh and Dumfires, plus an online email survey.
Based upon the results of the research, we then made a number of recommendations on the best methods of exploring people’s perceptions of species management to support nature conservation policy development in Scotland.