14 WWW.THEFIELD.CO.UK
thecrisishadcome‘outoftheblue’.Unpre-
dictedit mayhavebeenbuttounderstand
itstrueoriginswehavetogoback 65 years.
TheProtectionofBirdsAct 1954 setthe
courseforbirdconservation,notjustinthe
UKbutthroughoutEurope. Itskeyprinci-
plewasthatallbirdswereprotected,with
necessary control of certain species only
allowedbywayofexemptions.Prominent
amongthesewasSchedule2 oftheActitself,
a listofproblematicwildbirds,“whichmay
bekilledortakenatanytimebyauthorised
persons” (meaning landowners, occupiers
andthose actingwiththeir permission). It
becameknowncolloquiallyasthe‘pestlist’
andit includedcrows,rooks,jackdaws,jays,
severalgullspeciesandthewoodpigeon.
The ‘protected unless’ approach of the
’54 Act was subsequently adopted as the
basisoftheECBirdsDirectivein 1979 and
then,inresponsetothat,theUK’sownWild-
lifeandCountrysideAct1981.Butwhereas
the Directive only allowed exceptions via
evidence-basedlicences,“wheretherewas
noothersatisfactorysolution”,theWildlife
Actpassed intoUKlawwith itsown‘pest
list’ofbirdsthatcouldbekilledregardless
ofjustificationorcircumstance.Thisdispar-
itycametolightintheearly1990swhenthe
UKwasthreatenedbytheEUwithserious
infractionproceedingsforfailingtoimple-
menttheBirdsDirectivecorrectly.
OfficialsinLondoncameupwitha cun-
ningplan.TheUKwoulddropitsunlawful
pestschedule and instead allowcontrol of
thebirds onit undera newdevicecalleda
GeneralLicence.Thiswould meettheEU’s
requirements because it would start by stating
IFyouhadtopicksevenweeksoftheyear
duringwhich stoppingthe control ofpest
birdswouldcausemaximumharm, 25 April
to 14 Junewouldbea goodchoice.Natural
England’s revocation this spring of three
GeneralLicencesforkillingcrows,magpies,
woodpigeons and other common spe-
ciescausedmayhem.Nestingbirds,young
livestock and newly-sown crops were all
hammered. Gamekeepers, farmers and
commercial pest controllers could only
standbackandwatch.It wasa disaster.
Natural England(NE) blamed everyone
butthemselves,claimingtheirhandhadbeen
forcedbya legalchallengefromWildJustice,
a trouble-makingtriumvirateheadedupby
populistTVpresenterChrisPackham.Coun-
tryside organisations, meanwhile, insisted
they had not been caught napping and that
Theinterruptiontobirdpestcontrolfrom 25 April,followingtherevocationofthreeGeneral
Licences,wasa fiasco. How did it happen and what must be done to prevent it happening again?
General Licence debacle
BY CHARLES NODDER
