Environmental management

Wildlife and habitat conservation: detailed information

• From: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Natural England, Environment Agency, Animal and Plant Health Agency, Closed organisation: Foreign & Commonwealth Office
  + 25 more
  Veterinary Medicines Directorate, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, Joint Nature Conservation Committee, Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, Closed organisation: Department for International Development, Marine Management Organisation, Closed organisation: Highways England, Closed organisation: Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (Northern Ireland), Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, Natural Resources Wales, Rural Payments Agency, Welsh Government, Cabinet Office, Forestry Commission, Ministry of Defence, Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency, Agri-Food and Biosciences Institute (Northern Ireland), Defence Science and Technology Laboratory, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities , Forestry England, Health and Safety Executive, National Lottery Heritage Fund, Closed organisation: Public Health England, and UK Hydrographic Office

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Report incidents

• Report an environmental incident
• Understand and apply for marine wildlife licences and report an incident
• Wildlife crime and how to report it
• Report a dead or injured animal
• Report a stranded whale or dolphin

Birds

• Bird licences
• Geese: control populations of problem birds under licence
• Hen harriers: tracking programme update
• Wild birds: prevent damage to your land, farm, fishery or business
• Wild birds: protection and licences
• Wild birds: remove them from food premises using nets or traps

Fish and shellfish

• Licence for an individual to protect their fishery from fish-eating birds (A06 and A07)
• Permission to trap crayfish, eels, elvers, salmon and sea trout
• Controls of fish and shellfish diseases in England and Wales
• Return tagged fish and shellfish

Invertebrates

• Guidance on habitat for white-clawed crayfish
• Permission to trap crayfish, eels, elvers, salmon and sea trout

Mammals

• Badgers: protection and licences
• Bat roosts: use of chemical pest control products and timber treatments in or near them
• Bats: protection and licences
• Deer: how to protect your property from damage
• Hazel dormice: protection and licences
• Mammals: licence to kill, take or disturb for health and safety (A05 and LR05)
• Mink, coypu and muskrat: apply for a licence to keep them (A04 and LR04)
• Rabbits: how to control numbers
• Seals: licence to kill or take them in rivers (A17 and LR17)

Reptiles and amphibians

• Great crested newts: protection and licences

Other wildlife licensing

• Class licences for wildlife management
• European protected species: apply for a licence to possess them (A37 and LR37)
• European protected species: apply for a mitigation licence (A12)
• General licences for wildlife management
• Keeping wild birds or animals
• Managing wildlife on your land
• Non-native (alien) species: apply for a licence to release them (A03 and LR03)
• Protected species: when to apply for a licence to survey, film or photograph them
• Protected species licence for science, education or conservation (A29)
• Wildlife licences: when you need to apply

Plants

• Application to use herbicides in or near water
• How to stop invasive non-native plants from spreading
• How to stop Japanese knotweed from spreading
• Wild plants: sell them legally

Habitat conservation

• Find protected areas of countryside
• Hoveton Wetlands restoration project
• Humberhead Peatlands restoration LIFE+ project
• Improvement programme for England’s Natura 2000 sites (IPENS)
• Local nature reserves: setting up and management
• Marches Mosses BogLIFE project
• Nature Improvement Areas: improved ecological networks
• River habitat survey guidance manual
• Special Nature Conservation Orders and stop notices
• Visit national parks, nature reserves and green spaces

Volunteering

• Become a volunteer bat roost visitor
• Volunteering with Natural England: how to get involved
• Volunteering with Natural England: support directory

Other

• Biodiversity duty: public authority duty to have regard to conserving biodiversity
• Enforcement laws: advice on protecting the natural environment in England
• How external funding is helping Natural England's work
• Hunting and shooting wildlife
• Licence to sell protected plants and animals (A38 and LR38)
• Manage and protect woodland wildlife
• Marine species & wildlife: protection