Natural England fails to issue individual licences for bird control

General Licences are not applicable on European Protected Sites. If you wish to control wild birds on a European Protected Site, or within 300m of one, or you wish to control a predatory bird that is not on a General Licences anywhere in England, then you currently require an individual licence.

After last year's debacle surrounding the General Licences, Natural England assured us that this system would be efficient and adequate.

At present they have received over 1000 applications for individual licences. To date, they have not issued a single licence. The peak of the breeding season is upon us and we are without the licences needed to undertake legal control of predatory corvids and gulls, leaving many of our most treasured red-list species on our most vulnerable landscapes, defenceless. Many of these sites became European Protected Sites precisely because of centuries of careful predator management that secured the presence of these vulnerable species.

Natural England have also restricted the ability to control gull species, and its failure to grant licences has resulted in a situation in the uplands where gulls have been recorded plundering the nests of vulnerable ground nesting waders, such as curlews, golden plovers and lapwings. Yet again, we are left legally defenceless to intervene.

In an effort to address this, despite repeated reassurances from Natural England, the Countryside Alliance, alongside five other organisations, has written to the DEFRA Secretary of State asking him to give this matter his personal attention, and prioritise the delivery of individual licences especially for conservation purposes.

You can read our joint letter to George Eustice here.