Quote Originally Posted by Mason View Post
A change to the General License has been needed for some time in my opinion. People have used it as an excuse to shoot wildlife when there is no real problem at a location. Hopefully the new license will be more area / problem specific; a corvid in your garden isn't a problem, but there are those who will shoot it under the General license, believing they can as it appears on the list. The revocation of the license doesn't mean that this method of control has ceased, a provision has been made for those with a need to control a pest species, can still apply for an interim "individual license" to do so from 25th April at gov.uk.
The important thing is to make everyone aware that this license is being revoked. Perhaps admin will make this thread a sticky and email or PM its members of this important change so all its members are informed of it.
Excellent well put post. Far too many people are blatting away at birds for no other reason than ‘just because I can’ and claiming they’re doing it under general licence.

Shooting pigeons and crows in your garden isn’t protecting farmers crops and preventing spread of disease.

Obviously there’s a need for farmers and country folk to control numbers for reasons listed under the general license but every Tom dick and Harry have been using it as an excuse to shoot birds unnecessarily.

Those who legitimately shoot known pest birds can still continue to do so by applying for an individual license.