Defra release General Licence for Game Bird Releasing on European Protected Sites

At 1.00pm today Defra released their General Licence for Game Bird Releasing on European Protected Sites.
This has been developed in response to the Judicial Review that Wild Justice brought against the Government last year concerning damage game birds might cause to these protected sites. The Judicial Review was withdrawn following Defra's commitment to introduce a temporary licensing regime. It did not matter that there is little or no evidence that gamebird releases are causing harm to these protected sites because Natural England needs to be able to show that no harm would in fact occur. The interim licensing regime is intended to allow Natural England the time to gather the necessary evidence.

While we will be working through the licence in detail over the coming days, initial impressions are that this is workable, and we welcome the clear 'sunset' clause which ensures this regime is temporary. Pertinent details for shoot owners and managers are:

• The General Licence relates to areas that are Special Protected Areas (SPAs) or Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) only, and to the 500m buffer zone around them. It does not apply to land that is designated only as SSSI.
• The 'sunset' clause is 4 years, with a review taking place within 3 years. However, it is a General Licence, and as such will be re-issued on an annual basis. There is, therefore, scope for it to be amended annually should areas of concern emerge.
• If you release 50 or more gamebirds within a European site or its 500m buffer zone, then you will be required to submit information about their releases to Natural England. This evidence gathering will be key to amending the licence, and it will help ensure Natural England has the data needed to obviate the need for this additional licensing to be extended beyond the end of 4 years.
• For pheasants, the density of allowable releasing is 700 per hectare of release pen within the site, and 1000 per hectare of release pen within 500m of the site.
• For partridges, the density of allowable releasing is 700 per hectare of the land that they are expected to inhabit within the site, and 1000 per hectare of the land that they are expected to inhabit within 500m of the site. Due to differing releasing practices for partridges, they have not specified this in relation to pen size. Within the site, pens must only be situated within cover crops or improved grassland; not semi natural sites or unimproved grassland.
• If you have an existing consent from Natural England that is lower than that specified in the General Licence, then this lower level of releasing still applies.
• If these densities pose a problem to the operation of a shoot, and it can be demonstrated that no negative impacts are occurring on the protected site, then you can apply for an Individual Licence for a higher allowable density.
• This licence comes into force on 31st May 2021.

The full licence can be seen here.