Revoking of General Licences

Natural England announced on Tuesday 23rd April 2019 that they would be revoking General Licenses GL 04/05/06.

This relates to the “lethal control of certain birds in defined situations, such as to prevent serious damage to livestock from carrion crow and to preserve public health and safety from the impacts of feral pigeons” amongst other things.

Natural England has said this will come into effect from 23:59 on Thursday 25th April.  At the moment it is not clear how they are going to moving forward with this but the NGO / BASC are doing their best to keep everyone informed.

Please read the information in the following links to ensure you fully understand what this means and to ensure you stay within the confines of the law while this transition takes place.

• https://www.nationalgamekeepers.org.uk/articles/further-information-on-the-revocation-of-general-licences-in-england
• https://basc.org.uk/

The following article by Guy Walters on the Mail Online is also well worth a read: 

• https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6957419/Natural-England-changed-law-stop-farmers-culling-Britains-12million-PIGEONS.html

As soon as we hear of any new developments we will be sharing them across our social media platforms.

Letter just received via our local MP – Oliver Letwin 

• LETTER: General licences for bird control: major changes to licensing requirements

FOLLOW THESE LINKS TO GET TO THE NEW APPLICATION FORMS:

• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/wild-birds-licence-to-control-certain-species
• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/wild-birds-licence-to-disturb-kill-or-take-for-health-or-safety

Update 26/4/19: 2 new general licences released. It looks like Natural England are sorting it all out with a heap of new paperwork. Let’s hope this satisfies the likes of Wild Justice…

• https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/standard-licence-conditions-for-trapping-wild-birds-and-using-decoys-gl33