General licences for wild birds: survey on management measures in England
Download the full outcome
Detail of outcome
We received 4,433 responses to this survey. 3,910 came from individuals and 523 from representative groups, organisations or businesses.
As part of the review of general licences to kill or take wild birds in England, we also:
- held workshops with a range of representative organisations
- assessed scientific evidence from 475 research papers
On completion of the review, Defra published the new general licences GL40, GL41 and GL42. These came into force on 1 January 2021.
Original consultation
Consultation description
This survey is seeking views and evidence on how we should use general licences for wild birds. In particular, how they should be used to:
- kill or take wild birds to conserve wild birds and to conserve flora (plants) and fauna (other animals)
- kill or take wild birds to preserve public health or public safety
- kill or take wild birds to prevent serious damage to livestock, foodstuffs for livestock, crops, vegetables, fruit, growing timber, fisheries or inland waters
This is the next phase of the review of general licences to kill or take wild birds in England, consisting of a survey, supported by workshops. As nature conservation is a devolved matter, this survey and our wider review applies only to England.
This survey and workshops will build upon the useful information that stakeholders provided as part of the call for evidence in May 2019.
Last updated 16 March 2021 + show all updates
-
Added the summary of survey responses and 3 accompanying annexes.
-
First published.