Defra Licence:

[C3PO_1]

Here's the current Defra license (which gets updated every January), very useful to print off and keep in your bag whenever you go shooting:

http://www.defra.gov.uk/corporate/regulat/forms/cons_man/wlf18.pdf

[moffman]

As some of you will probably know, they have moved where they keep the licence to a different web site. It can now be found here:
http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/conservation/wildlife-management-licensing/docs/WML%20Gen-L05.pdf

[Russ63]

Pardon ones ignorance, but what's a Defra licence.

[C3PO_1]

It sets out the conditions upon which you're entitled to hunt. Worth reading closely because you cannot shoot many birds classed as vermin without good reason as set out in the licence conditions.

[neil68]

Hi Guys,
Interesting post/link, do you know of a link for mammals/vermin as your link is specifically for birds.
Thanks, Neil.

[Chris St. MH]

Hi Guys,
Interesting post/link, do you know of a link for mammals/vermin as your link is specifically for birds.
Thanks, Neil.

You don't need a licence (of any kind) to shoot rabbit, grey squirrel, rat, stoat, weasel, mink or fox.

[neil68]

Thanks Chris.:D

[kiriak]

Cheers for the link to the current licence. The DEFRA site has no link that I can find to it. :rolleyes: :mad:

[Greylag]

Cheers for the link to the current licence. The DEFRA site has no link that I can find to it. :rolleyes: :mad:

Hello Kiriak,

That's due to the fact that Natural England took over administration/issue of the General Licences.

The information is available on their website at the address below

http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/conservation/wildlife-management-licensing/licences.htm

Regards

[johnny k]

Thought the JAY was now off the licence.........any comments

[Greylag]

Thought the JAY was now off the licence.........any comments

Hello Johnny,

Not as far as I'm aware. Jays are still a legal quarry species but many same as myself tend not to shoot them. They are a member of the Corvid family rooks, crows, jackdaws, magpies etc probably why they're included but I'm not sure. If you look under WML Gen- L05 on the Natural England website it says the following :-

1. The purposes for which this licence is granted are preventing the spread of disease and preventing
serious damage to livestock, foodstuffs for livestock, crops, vegetables, fruit, growing timber, fisheries
or inland waters.

2. Subject to the terms and conditions below, and for the purposes set out in paragraph (1) above, this
licence permits:

(i) any authorised person to kill or take any of the wild birds listed in this subparagraph, to take,
damage or destroy their nests or to take or destroy their eggs:

Greater Canada Goose Branta canadensis
Crow Corvus corone
Dove, Collared Streptopelia decaocto
Gull, Great Black-backed Larus marinus
Gull, Lesser Black-backed Larus fuscus
Gull, Herring Larus argentatus
Jackdaw Corvus monedula
Jay Garrulus glandarius
Magpie Pica pica
Pigeon, Feral Columba livia
Rook Corvus frugilegus
Woodpigeon Columba palumbus

Hope this helps
Regards

[Spanner.]

Which one of them damages growing timber:rolleyes::confused:

[Greylag]

Which one of them damages growing timber:rolleyes::confused:

Hello JRDS,

I think it's more to do with damaging the fruit trees by eating the buds rather than physically damaging the structure. I suppose them eating the buds would make the tree less prolific in it's growth cycle but as I'm no botanist I can't say.

Hope this helps
Regards

[craggrat]

Never been asked for a license, i have worked on airports, landfill sites, killed many birds with my falcons and hawks. mainly Gull's crows, pigeon,
craggrat

[450lewis]

is this like a licence you have to apply for or a code to abide by when hunting?

is it saying that any semiauto used for hunting must have a mag capacity of no more than two rounds? whats all that about?

forgiv my ignorance and any help would be greatly recieved..

lewis:o

[delta1946]

Never been asked for a license, i have worked on airports, landfill sites, killed many birds with my falcons and hawks. mainly Gull's crows, pigeon,
craggrat


can you kill sea gulls?

[Luke Skywalker]

Does protection of crops include protection of personal crops?

[termin8R]

There are four different licences under which we might operate... the quarry species are not necessarily the same on each one.

Doug :cool:

:: Licence to kill or take certain birds to prevent serious damage or disease WML Gen-L05 PDF
:: Licence to kill or take certain birds to preserve air safety WML Gen-L06 PDF
:: Licence to kill or take certain birds to preserve public health or public safety WML Gen-L07 PDF
:: Licence to kill or take certain birds to conserve wild birds WML Gen-L08 PDF

[banjodag]

about time cormorants were added to the list. Grand union canal from Harefield to Tring emptied of the smaller fish by these vile marauders.

[Alegazmoz]

can you kill sea gulls?

There are four different licences under which we might operate... the quarry species are not necessarily the same on each one.

Doug :cool:

:: Licence to kill or take certain birds to prevent serious damage or disease WML Gen-L05 PDF
:: Licence to kill or take certain birds to preserve air safety WML Gen-L06 PDF
:: Licence to kill or take certain birds to preserve public health or public safety WML Gen-L07 PDF
:: Licence to kill or take certain birds to conserve wild birds WML Gen-L08 PDF

Gull, Great Black-backed, Larus marinus
Gull, Lesser Black-backed, Larus fuscus
Gull, Herring, Larus argentatus

Subject to the provisions of the caveats listed above.
;)

[Frankie1517]

There are four different licences under which we might operate... the quarry species are not necessarily the same on each one.

Doug :cool:

:: Licence to kill or take certain birds to prevent serious damage or disease WML Gen-L05 PDF
:: Licence to kill or take certain birds to preserve air safety WML Gen-L06 PDF
:: Licence to kill or take certain birds to preserve public health or public safety WML Gen-L07 PDF
:: Licence to kill or take certain birds to conserve wild birds WML Gen-L08 PDF

Isn't this just the rules that those taking birds for the 4 reasons about must adhear to. Hunting for sport or food doesn't really fall into any of thse categories?

[willy]

Still on the welsh office list.:)

[BigAl]

Seems they have moved the licences again. The list of General Licences can now be found here. (http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/regulation/wildlife/licences/generallicences.aspx)

Alan

[kdubya]

about time cormorants were added to the list. Grand union canal from Harefield to Tring emptied of the smaller fish by these vile marauders.

application can be made to kill cormorant,and specific numbers are allowed, local res, is shot every so often :)

cheers KW

[ftwizard]

Isn't this just the rules that those taking birds for the 4 reasons about must adhear to. Hunting for sport or food doesn't really fall into any of thse categories?

You can't shoot wild birds for food or sport, only for the reasons stated on the licence, game birds excepted of course, but they need a specific licence I believe.

[Rodd]

Ftwizard,

Game licences are no longer required, but can still only be shot in their relevant seasons and not on Sundays or Christmas Day or without landowners specific permission where you have shooting permissions.

Rod

[Simply Simon]

Game birds are considered as a crop to be harvested at certain times of the year. All birds and animals are protected; some are then exempted under certain conditions (general license) as detailed above, and thus you cannot shoot quarry solely for food or in your confines of your backgarden. Others are exempted at certain times of the year during their specific 'open seasons'.

[SNIPER1]

Thanks for this invaluable link, first I did not realise it ran out:eek: I did not realise the authority on this license had changed + would have had difficulty finding it as there is no link on defras website,

Thanks again,

SNIPER1;)

[Geoffc]

Just out of interest, I'm a member of Scottish Association of Country Sports.

As I take Woodpigeon for the pot then I thought I would get legal clarification.
I do kill them to prevent crop damage but, as we are a hunter-gatherer species then I did ask, what is the legal position for 'hunting' Pigeons.
In the SACS magazine they had printed an article about a chap being prosecuted by the RSPCA for allowing his son to shoot a pigeon in his own garden. SACS said this was not illegal so, again I wanted clarification.
I have cut and pasted his reply here.

Hi Geoff - thanks for the email.
I’m a bit pushed for time, so I will be brief - please excuse!
The public general licenses allow authorised persons to kill or take the species listed only for the reasons specified in the licenses - this is carefully worded to comply with EU law. The two we use most commonly as shooters are for the protection of crops and the protection of ground nesting birds.
It has been accepted that these species can be killed for these purposes at any time or in any place - it is not restricted to the protection of a specific bird nest or a specific field or crop - in other words it is fine in the legal sense to kill them at any time in any place, on the basis that they would be damaging crops or nests at some point in their lives.
The point is that although these are the only legal reasons for killing them, there is no restriction on what you do with them once you have killed them, so it’s perfectly ok to take them home and eat them (although I wouldn’t recommend it with crows!) or dispose of them in any way you see fit, including selling them to a game dealer if you have enough to make that worthwhile.
In practice, it is entirely academic until some member of the public or RSPB clown tries it on as in the case you mention, and to be safe, if anyone asks you why you shot a bird, you simply say for the protection of……. and that’s the end of it.

That'll do for me:cool:

[Airholic]

Thanks Geoff for the good post.

.............in other words it is fine in the legal sense to kill them at any time in any place, on the basis that they would be damaging crops or nests at some point in their lives................

So you CAN shoot woodpigeon for the pot.

It would appear then that when questioned by a person of authority you answer ' I did this for the pot' = court appearance. 'I did this for the protection of crops' = no case to answer.

Sometimes we don't always say the right things at the right time and end up in the proverbial when no malice was intended.

[kev1299]

Gull, Great Black-backed, Larus marinus
Gull, Lesser Black-backed, Larus fuscus
Gull, Herring, Larus argentatus

Subject to the provisions of the caveats listed above.
;)

Just thought I'd point out that, in January this year, the Herring Gull and Great Black-Backed Gull were removed from the General Licence and these can now only be taken in special circumstances and a licence must be obtained from Natural England.

[Accuspell]

Clarification. Airshot:, SORRY - AIRHOLIC. NO you cannot shoot woodpigeons for the pot, because they have no defined shooting season in the UK.

You CAN shoot woodpigeons for crop protection, at any time of th eyear (i.e. there is no close season - although I, personally, would not advocate shooting them during the nesting season. That is just my old fashioned stance on it. It is legal, I just don't want to...for obvious reasons.)

Now, you must understand the reasons behind this differentiation, with regard to the rest of Europe. France and Italy in particular, their shooters are hopping mad that we can shoot woodpigeons all year round, under the general license agreement. This is because their own Ministers cocked up, in their view and when viewed against our Minister's approach to the subject, in that the woodpigeon in France & Italy (I know of these two, possibly Belgium, Lux, Spain, Germany et al) has a close season, and they are treated as a game bird, not a pest species. The French and Italian shooters want to know why we can shoot pigeons during the (as they see it) close season -and they can't.

Our Minister has actually done a good job in the past to maintain our right to shoot under the general license, because there is a great deal of pressure in Europe (Brussels) to make us fall in to line with them and have a close season on woodpigeons....hence why it is so important that we maintain our stance of only shooting for crop protection. NOT FOR THE POT. The fact you eat them afterwards has absolutely nothing whatever to do with - that was NOT the reason you shot them.;) It was just that having shot them for croip protection reasons it was a waste not to eat them.

Semantics? Word play? That is what politics is all about. So no more shooting for the pot, OK. Only for crop protection - then eat those pests rather than feed the fox.

EDIT: Actually, reading my own post, there is a glaring hole in the middle of my explanation. That is, as soon as you shoot for the pot, you turn a pest into game.....and they have close seasons, pests don't.

[SandyB]

Hello Kiriak,

That's due to the fact that Natural England took over administration/issue of the General Licences.

The information is available on their website at the address below

http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/conservation/wildlife-management-licensing/licences.htm

Regards

A NEW link for for 2010 is required I think having looked for it again this year. This one will take you directly to the general licences;)

http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwork/regulation/wildlife/licences/generallicences.aspx

[chippy]

i see they have removed greater black back gull and herring gull but added parakeets but the lesser black back is still on the list

perhaps these gulls are becoming rare like starlings, well in front of the countryside alliance HQ office window anyway :rolleyes:
chippy