In February this year, not-for-profit company Wild Justice launched its first legal challenge which was a challenge against the casual killing of birds permitted under Natural England’s General Licences.
This legal challenge was supported by over 1,000 people who pledged £36,000 to cover the legal costs.
That legal challenge has been successful and late this afternoon Natural England posted the following statement on the gov.uk website:
GENERAL LICENCES FOR BIRD CONTROL: MAJOR CHALLENGES TO LICENSING REQUIREMENTS
Natural England announces changes to three general licences for controlling specific wild bird species.
Natural England is revoking three general licences for controlling certain wild birds as of Thursday 25 April 2019.
These licences (GL 04/05/06) cover 16 species of birds including several members of the crow family, Canada goose, some gulls and pigeons.
The change follows a legal challenge to the way the licences have been issued, which could mean users who rely on them are not acting lawfully.
Natural England is working at pace to put in place over the next few weeks alternative measures to allow lawful control of these bird species to continue where necessary. In the meantime, once the licences have been revoked and until new licences are issued, anyone needing to control one of these 16 bird species where there is no reasonable non-lethal alternative will need to apply for an individual licence.
The action is the first stage of a planned review of general and class licences, which will be completed this year.
Natural England’s interim chief executive Marian Spain said: “We recognise this change will cause disruption for some people, but we are working hard to ensure it is kept to a minimum. We will bring forward interim measures as quickly as possible as the first stage of our planned review of the licences. We want to make sure our licensing system is robust and proportionate, taking into account the needs of wildlife and people“.
What to do if you use a general licence
It is expected that, over time, many situations currently covered by the three general licences will be covered by new licences.
Natural England is undertaking new licensing assessments to support 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. It intends to start issuing these licences on gov.uk from the week commencing 29 April when more details will be available.
If people need to take action in the meantime they will need to apply for an individual licence, using a simplified process which will be available on gov.uk from 25 April.
In limited circumstances, people may be allowed to undertake urgent action in accordance with the existing requirements of section 4 of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
Anyone exercising lethal control of birds after Thursday 25 April 2019 without taking the above steps will not be covered by a general licence and could be committing an offence.
If you are unsure what you should do on your land, visit the Natural England licensing webpage for more information and advice.
Background on the general licence
General licences were introduced in the 1990s to allow the legal control of bird species of low conservation concern to protect public health and safety, prevent serious damage and disease, and protect plants and wildlife.
Further details of the wider review into the operation and provision of general licences will be shared shortly. We will seek feedback from those using them and from wildlife protection and other groups. We expect to complete this review by the end of the year.
Part of Natural England’s role is to ensure relevant provisions of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 are upheld to protect wildlife, as well as recognising the needs of people.
Background
Currently the three licences subject to the legal challenge cover 16 bird species, including several members of the crow family (crows, magpies, rooks, jackdaws and jays), feral and wood pigeon and number of invasive non-native species (such as Canada goose).
The specific licences:
- General licence GL04: To kill or take certain species of wild birds to prevent serious damage or disease
- General licence GL05: To kill or take certain species of wild birds to preserve public health or public safety
- General licence GL06: To kill or take certain species of wild birds to conserve wild birds or flora or fauna
ENDS
Obviously there is a lot to discuss about this case and Wild Justice will be issuing a detailed statement tomorrow after taking further legal advice.
Raptor Persecution UK 
Fantastic news and well done to all. I am sure the home nation’s statutory nature conservation bodies are watching very closely too.
1st challenge, 1st win YAY !!!! now to challenge more cases and hopefully win those too !!
Fantastic news!!
Brilliant.
Feels great to support something that can make such a difference – well done everyone.
Well done. Hopefully the first of many successful legal challenges. I am presuming this challenge will have implications on the issuing of the General Licence in other parts of the United Kingdom.
i presume the needless killing of crows and jays for pheasant shoots who release their birds three quarters grown will cease.
lets hope there is a review of the release of gamebirds and the damage it does to the environment.
well done to NE, not often ive said that lately but lets hope its a general shift towards common sense
Now is the time to ask Scot Gov to follow the lead from South of the Border. Over the last ten years Scot Gov and SNH have refused numerous requests to review the policy of the General License Scheme, being content simply to listen to the cullers and make variations to the species included on the free-for-all hit list.
Excellent news, thanks to your hard work and dedication.
Brilliant news although not unexpected tbh. Watching SNH now. Ready to argue about who decides what ‘serious damage’ is? Or to ‘conserve’ wild birds.
And maybe a reprieve at long last for the jay.
Well done.
Well done everybody , Great news.
Well done and thanks for giving me a bit of a boost, good news for our wildlife and a serious irritant (and sign of what’s to come?) for some not very nice people, two reasons why I’m happy. This totally vindicates the ethos behind the setting up of Wild Justice, those who did are clearly very smart cookies indeed.
Well done WJ. The speed with which NE has rolled over on this one begs the question whether they’ve held this view for some time and have now seized on the legal challenge as the opportunity to bring their action forward. However, I’m not getting excited about this until I see what the eventual outcome will be. Will it simply be the same set of rules but with a different wrapper? I would like to see a comprehensive review of the supposed nuisance status of each of the species currently included in the GLs to establish whether, and to what extent, they do actually cause significant problems in the respective areas covered by the licences. Not least, as already highlighted in two comments above, I would like to see Jays de-listed and crow-traps banned from pheasant release sites. I have no doubt whatsoever that the many Larsen Traps which I see are set habitually, without either attempt to use non-lethal forms of scaring or proper assessment of the extent of any perceived problem. The term ‘serious damage’ is open to a wide range of interpretations depending on your point of view.
Right! What’s next on the WJ list?
Coincidentally, I believe that today was Tony Juniper’s first day at the office.
Just in time for nesting, perfect. All those nests being raided by magpies and hooded crows will keep you happy. All the lambs having eyes and tongues pecked out by crows will put a smile on your face too. This is so shortsighted it’s laughable. Well done to all involved, you’ve even shot the RSPB in the foot.
Well this is your chance to gather the actual evidence of the thousands of injured lambs etc. You’ll presumably be able to livestream hundreds of lambs being injured by crows etc out in the fields (instead of being slaughtered behind closed doors) in the 4 days before the new type of licence is issued.
Very well done Wild Justice. Your actions raise my spirit. Good people can nudge things in the right direction.
Xx
What incredible insight; animals are subject to predation in the wild. Sadly for you, the ignorant nonsense you just spewed fourth is contrary to the research carried out by BTO, which showed that corvids have little to no effect on song bird populations. Likewise, feel free to show us the scientific research and field studies which show the number of lambs subject to the injuries you describe. The only thing laughable is your ignorance and propensity to lie.
Will the RSPB still be able to cull Carrion and Hooded Crows, Large Gull species, and Barnacle Geese ?
No, and Barnacle Geese are not on the general licence in England. This only applies in England.
The RSPB admit that they culled 773 Carrion/Hooded Crows to protect ground nesting birds and an unspecified number of “Large Gulls” but at least 156 (adults and eggs) to protect terns. Plus of course 2048 deer of 5 species and 780 foxes, stoats, squirrels etc. Is revive intending to change the law in England and Wales too ?
It’s always a very, very last resort for the RSPB to have to do this and only to protect those species who are at most risk. Deer culling I would argue is pretty much essential across the country, too, given their numbers and (unfortunate) damage they cause to flora.
I’m sorry but to me it sounds like you’re defending the RSPB from a position of ignorance and understandably what you want to think. Having personally had dealings with some of the vile individuals the RSPB are happy to work with and employ on their reserves to kill our nation’s wildlife, I’d say that the killing of so called pest species is extraordinarily slack, casual and downright irresponsible. Don’t fool yourself, some of the shooters they employ are repugnant, playing the “we care about wildlife thing” whilst blogging and bragging about being able to slaughter at will. Something fundamental has to change in our nation’s approach to wildlife conservation and we haven’t got much time left. WJ is a brilliant idea but I have no doubt that the wildlife killers will be slaughtering again unchallenged in a matter of weeks. Natural England will work tooth and nail to make sure of it.
Rest assured, Duncan, it’s not from a position ignorance, I used to work for the RSPB so not sure where you got that idea. And it’s nothing to do with what I think – these are facts. The killing certainly isn’t slack or casual, as my original post states, it’s a very last resort.
Well done all those who donate and especially to the Wild Justice team.
Congratulations indeed to the Wild Justice team.
On the ground, what is the legality of someone using a Larsen Trap to catch Hooded Grows – today?
Am I correct in thinking that they must now close the trap & apply for a new licence?
Good news indeed.
Should this be taken further?
NE have been breaking the law for decades. Should they be allowed to just get way with it?
It is a pity we don’t have some kind of karma based law where misdeeds can be balanced with good deeds. A plea bargain in order to get a ‘reduced sentence’.
Suing would just put NE under further financial burden. I don’t know if any penalty would come out of DEFRA’s pockets but even so, to put financial pressure on our stretched government institutions wouldn’t perhaps be the best use of resources. I suspect fear of law suits could be why they have revoked this year licences, they are scared shitless.
I am not sure i like the idea of suing but walking away from this as if they have dome no wrong and are not accountable doesn’t seem at all right.
It’s good to see that, on this occasion, NE has acted quickly in an effort to prevent any further breaches of the law. It’s a great pity that the something similar didn’t happen in relation to the use of Fenn traps to trap Stoats. Their use for this purpose was long known to have been inhumane. However, rather than banning them when this became known, the authorities (Defra) allowed their continued use whilst a search was made for a humane alternative. Thousands of these animals must have suffered horrendously and unnecessarily – something else to add to the debit side of anandprasad’s karma balance!