The Field – August 2019

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Left: carrion crows will attack weak lambs and prey heavilyoncurleweggsandchicks

Above: magpie numbers are sufficiently numerous toreducesongbirdbreedingsuccess

subsequently found by judges to have been
wrong. And what of the contrary legal advice
presumably supporting NE’s dropping of
that crucial wording in 2010? It must surely
have said the opposite. Or perhaps no such
legal advice was ever taken.
NE’s over-reaction may thus have been
the immediate reason for the recent crisis
but its long-term ineptitude was the under-
lying cause. Its counterparts in Scotland and
Wales, which have always made a better
job of wildlife licensing than NE, concluded
that their licences did not have to be with-
drawn, not least because they stuck with the
original Government wording, which rather
makes the point.
How secure is pest bird control now
that Defra has taken it back from Natural
England and issued three new replace-
ment General Licences? First, we should
note that whilst these new licences largely
revert to older wording, which did prove
workable and wasn’t legally challenged,
they are not like-for-like replacements.
Some species formerly included have been
taken off the list (collared doves, lesser
black-backed gulls and herring gulls), nor
do the new licences extend to European
protected sites: Special Areas of Conserva-

tion (SAC), Special Protection Areas (SPA)

and Ramsar wetlands.

They do, however, cover the much more

numerous Sites of Special Scientific Inter-

est, provided these are not also SAC, SPA or

Ramsar sites, and whilst it is a bore to have

to apply for an Individual Licence in these

areas, or for the ‘missing’ species, Defra

says it knows this is an imperfect situation

and it will look for neater solutions during a

less rushed consultation period due to start

later this year.

Importantly, that consultation will be run

by Defra, not by NE, but the expectation is

that once any resultant licence adjustments

are complete, the administration of Gen-

eral Licences will be returned to NE which,

incidentally, has retained responsibility for

Individual Licences throughout. This prob-

ably explains why the Individual Licensing

scheme hurried into place during the recent

crisis was such a dog’s breakfast. NE will cer-

tainly have to get much better, particularly at

understanding the legal issues and the prac-

ticalities of pest control, if bird licensing is to

be safe in their hands in future.

Brexit, if it ever happens, may have a role

to play, too. Although the main requirements

for wildlife licensing are laid down in the UK’s

ownWildlifeandCountrysideAct,a lotofthe

courtjudgmentsthathaveimpactedonour

domestic licenceshave been made by the

EuropeanCourtofJusticeandrelatetoinci-

dentsandissuesinotherEUmemberstates.

Thisatleastmaybecomea thingofthepast.

A silverliningofthe 2019 licensingcrisis

hasbeentheexcellentjointworkingbetween

the representativebodiesforshootingand

the countryside.Whatevertheirhistory,all

aretobecongratulatedona unitedresponse

this time round. Expertise and workloads

wereshared,lobbyingwasdonecollectively

under the bannerof the Shooting Liaison

CommitteeandtheinvolvementofMPsand

peers was properly coordinated. Because

ofthatunity,thedaywaswonandwemust

learnfromthat.

Aspectsofshootingandcountrysideman-

agement faced an existential threat earlier

thisyear.Theycamethroughbutthefragility

ofthemodernlegalbasisforwhatcountry-

menoftenregardashistoricrightswaslaid

bare.Thereishardworkaheadif traditions

aretobemaintained,becausethepestbird

challengewillnotbethelastandmayintime

provejusttohavebeenthebeginning.

Charles Nodder is political adviser to the

National Gamekeepers’ Organisation

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