Application window now open for shoots wanting to release gamebirds on/near SPAs

The Salisbury Plain Special Protection Area (SPA) is amongst dozens of SPAs where shoots will be “highly unlikely” to receive an individual licence from Natural England to release pheasant or red-legged partridge in 2025. This news comes in the wake of the announcement that GL45, the general licence which in 2024 regulated gamebird release on or within 500m of the Salisbury Plain SPA, and 84 other SPAs has been withheld by Defra for 2025. The Minister and Natural England stated the reason for the withholding of GL45 is the inability to “rule out the risk of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) spreading to the internationally protected birds present on SPAs”. 

Instead of GL45, shoots wishing to release gamebirds on or within 500m of an SPA will be required to apply to Natural England for an individual licence. The responsibility for reviewing and granting or refusing individual licences has been transferred this year back from Defra to Natural England. Ahead of 22 April, when Natural England will open for individual licence applications, a bulletin has been published by Natural England which gives advanced notice of the likelihood of licence application success for shoots wishing to release gamebirds in or within 500m of an SPA. 

The bulletin splits SPAs into three groups. The first being SPAs where applications are likely to be successful with standard mitigation methods – this group features only one SPA: Falmouth Bay to St Austell Bay. The second group, which features 17 SPAs, consists of those where applications are likely to be successful with delayed release (to 1 September or 1 October). The third group is the SPAs on which “gamebird release is highly unlikely to be permitted for the coming season unless there are exceptional circumstances that could reduce or avoid the risk of HPAI transmission”.  

Salisbury Plain SPA, among scores of others, has been put into the third group by Natural England. It is perhaps worth noting that there have been zero wild bird HPAI findings on or within 500m of the  Salisbury Plain SPA according to the Animal & Plant Health Agency’s database going back to October 2022. 

The 17 SPAs which Natural England have put in the second group are as follows: 

After several years of licensing tumult, this is the latest blow to shoots in or near SPAs. Natural England’s approach is putting jobs, livelihoods and family homes at great risk. The withholding of GL45 also appears to  fly in the face of the Labour government’s manifesto pledge to “promote biodiversity and protect our landscapes and wildlife”, as it is, more often than not, the land management practices that are carried out by gamekeepers that are the source of biodiversity and rich bird life in inland SPAs. If predator control is not carried out by gamekeepers, many rare ground nesting birds, such as the stone curlew, will suffer due to predation pressure.  

This withholding of licences is considered by some to be Natural England and the Minister throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Natural England is failing to recognise that any possible risk of gamebird release associated with HPAI should be balanced with the certain damage that cessation of shooting and its land management practices will inevitably cause. 

Natural England have also dismissed requests from shooting organisations to revisit SPA assessments in the event of a changing HPAI risk level. In 2024 Defra did conduct reassessments after the issuing of GL45. It seems that the value of shooting – community, conservation and economy – has similarly been dismissed by Natural England. 

Natural England have included in the bulletin an FAQ, important notes and a ‘decision tree’ for those deciding whether or not to apply for an individual licence. The bulletin also details how, when and where to find out further guidance on the licence application process. The bulletin can be read in full here. 

Those who wish to release gamebirds on ground that is on or within 500m of a Special Area of Conservation (SAC), that are not also SPAs, will be able to do so under GL43, which is expected to be published in the coming weeks. Those unable to comply with the conditions set out in GL43 will also have to apply to Natural England for an individual licence.