More restrictions expected for gamebird releases this year on/near Special Protected Areas in England

More restrictions are expected to be announced for the release of gamebirds on/near Special Protection Areas (SPAs) in England in 2026.

Regular blog readers will recall that in March last year, Defra announced that it would not be issuing General Licence 45 (GL45 – the licence under which restricted numbers of gamebirds can be released on or within 500m of Special Protection Areas, which was introduced after a legal challenge by Wild Justice about damage to protected sites by gamebirds) in 2025 because:

“It is currently not possible to rule out the risk of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) (which is currently very high) spreading to the bird features present on SPAs”.

Natural England (responsible for individual licences) went further, and on 14 April 2025 it advised the gamebird shooting industry that although they could still apply for individual licences for 2025 gamebird releases on or close to SPAs, some licences would only be permitted with a delayed release date for the poults, whereas licences for many other SPAs would be unlikely to be issued at all.

Given the still very high risk of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), I’ve been expecting General Licence 45 to remain withdrawn this year.

I’ve now seen a draft notification written by Natural England which is expected to be published this week (thanks to the blog reader who sent me a copy) that details the further restrictions that are anticipated for the 2026 gamebird shooting season.

The draft notification states that General Licence 45 will remain withdrawn this year (good) and that there will be even more restrictions than there were last year (good).

Individual licences will again be available for some SPAs, with a delayed gamebird release date (either 1 Sept or 1 Oct depending on the site) to protect any wild birds that otherwise would be present on the SPA over the summer and could be at risk from the spread of HPAI from released gamebirds.

However, this year for the first time, Natural England has been assessing the risk of Avian Influenza to overwintering Woodlark populations, as well as breeding populations which are already a ‘feature’ of several SPAs.

As a result of these concerns, Natural England has concluded that ‘adverse effects on site integrity’ cannot be ruled out for the following sites: Breckland SPA, Sandlings SPA, Thames Basin Heaths SPA, Thursley, Hankley and Frensham Commons (Wealden Heaths Phase 1) SPA, Wealden Heaths Phase 2 SPA. For this reason, it is unlikely that licences will be granted for these SPAs in 2026.

This is a significant change to the 2025 restrictions, especially on the large Breckland SPA in Norfolk and Suffolk which is known to be an area of intense gamebird releases.

A total ban on the annual release of millions of non-native gamebirds (Pheasants & Red-legged Partridges) would be better but increased restrictions can still be considered progress.

I’ll await the publication of Natural England’s formal notification with interest.

UPDATE 17.00hrs: Natural England confirms tighter restrictions on gamebird releases on/near to Special Protection Areas in England (here)