Written by Rachel Martin
Three new general licences allowing farmers to protect their stock and crops through the killing or taking of wild birds in England have been issued this morning (June 14) by Defra.
The department admitted that the recent call for evidence highlighted a range of impacts as a result of the revocation of licences GL04, 05 and 06, including crow attacks on lambs and ewes during lambing, the risk of predation for eggs and fledglings of birds of conservation concern, and public health issues caused by pigeons in urban areas.
A spokesman said a summary of the evidence and the Government’s response will be published shortly.
The new licences announced today will allow users to control certain species of wild birds in order to:
- Conserve wild birds and flora or fauna (WML GL34);
- Preserve public health or public safety (WML GL35);
- Prevent serious damage to livestock, foodstuffs for livestock, crops, vegetables, fruit, growing timber, fisheries or inland waters (WML GL36).
The call for evidence closed on Monday, May 13, with over 4,000 responses submitted. Having also sought the views of user groups on the usability of different potential licensing options, the three new general licences seek to protect wild birds whilst recognising the legitimate needs of people and other wildlife.
However, at this stage, the new licences will not apply to European protected sites.
Steps forward
The licences will be valid until February 29, 2020. In the meantime, Defra will lead a review of the longer-term general licensing arrangements.
A spokesman said Defra would launch an initial public consultation by the end of the summer. The department will work closely on this review with Natural England, who have already indicated the need to examine a wider range of general and class licences.
Environment Secretary Michael Gove said: “I recognise the scale of interest and concern that was generated by Natural England’s decision to revoke three general licences and I am grateful to those thousands of individuals and groups who shared their experiences in responding to the call for evidence.
The three new general licences announced today seek to minimise some of the negative impacts that the withdrawal of the previous licences had.”
Natural England chairman Tony Juniper CBE said: “I welcome the Environment Secretary’s announcement today, which follows a great deal of work between Defra and Natural England to tackle an exceptionally complex situation.
“I am immensely grateful for the efforts of my colleagues at Natural England in putting in place alternatives for users affected by the recent changes to general licences.
“Our aim has always been to ensure that there is a robust licensing system in place which takes into account the needs of people and wildlife. We look forward to working closely with Defra on a review of general licences later this year to help achieve this.”
Natural England revoked three general licences (GL04, 05 and 06) in April following a legal challenge and subsequent legal advice which concluded that the three licences were unlawful.
For many users, Defra’s new licences will be the appropriate option. Beyond these, Natural England recently issued three general licences GL26, GL28 and GL31 to cover some of the species and purposes covered by the original licences that were revoked.
These remain in place since they allow for specified activity on European protected sites which are not covered by Defra’s new licences.
Natural England also introduced an interim system for issuing individual licences whilst the replacement general licences were being developed.
Users who have received one of these individual licences can continue to operate under them should they wish.
Whichever licence a user chooses to rely on, they will need to ensure they comply with the conditions and requirements of that licence.
Natural England will be contacting all applicants who have made one of these individual licence applications where a licence has not yet been issued to determine whether they need to continue to with any part of their application.
New licences
The new licences are as follows:
General licence to kill or take certain species of wild birds to conserve wild birds and flora or fauna (GL34).
Species covered: Carrion Crow, jackdaw, jay, magpie, rook, Canada goose, Egyptian goose, monk parakeet, ring-necked parakeet, sacred ibis and Indian house-crow
General licence to kill or take certain species of wild birds to preserve public health or public safety (GL35).
Species covered: Carrion crow, jackdaw, magpie, feral pigeon, rook, Canada goose and monk parakeet.
General licence to kill or take certain species of wild birds to prevent serious damage to livestock, foodstuffs for livestock, crops, vegetables, fruit, growing timber, fisheries or inland waters (GL36).
Species covered: Carrion crow, jackdaw, magpie, feral pigeon, rook, woodpigeon, Canada goose, Egyptian goose, monk parakeet and ring-necked parakeet.
Gulls
Users can continue to apply to Natural England for an individual licence for control of herring gulls, and now for lesser black-backed gulls.
Due to their poorer conservation status, these species have not been included in the new general licences. In terms of control of nests and eggs, their breeding season for this year is largely complete.
Natural England is developing a new class licence for these species to be ready in good time for next year’s breeding season.
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