Guidance

Wild birds: prevent damage to your land, farm, fishery or business

How to deal with wild birds causing a health or safety issue, or a problem on your farm or fishery and when you need a licence.

From:
Natural England and Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
Published
7 October 2014
Last updated
14 June 2019 — See all updates

Applies to England

All wild birds in England are protected by law. You cannot kill or capture wild birds, or damage their eggs or nests to prevent or solve problems caused by them, unless you follow the conditions of a licence.

What you can do without a licence: non-lethal bird control

Try to resolve your wild bird problem using non-lethal management before you consider taking lethal action against them using a licence.

You should try to:

  • scare the birds away using visual (such as scarecrows) or audible devices (including shooting to scare)
  • restrict access to food
  • stop birds from roosting or nesting on your buildings or land by putting netting over vulnerable areas
  • manage nearby habitat to make it less attractive to birds
  • maintain a human presence around the site to deter birds
  • use physical barriers to keep birds away

Birds become used to certain non-lethal methods of control (known as habituation) but you should not stop using non-lethal methods for this reason.

You’ll achieve the best outcomes by using a range of methods that are regularly changed to overcome habituation. If this does not work, you might need to combine non-lethal methods with lethal control methods.

Follow further advice for using legal measures to manage wild birds (GU01).

You need to get the landowner’s permission to carry out these activities on land or premises that you do not own or manage.

Bird control on sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs)

For activities on or close to a SSSI, you or the landowner might need to get consent from Natural England.

Public bodies and airport authorities might also need to get approval from Natural England to carry out their activities on or close to a SSSI. This is known as assent.

Non-lethal methods to protect fisheries from fish-eating birds

To prevent fish-eating birds preying on fish stocks in fisheries, in addition to the standard bird management options, you should try to:

  • use wires or ropes above the water to deter birds from landing
  • create fish refuges under the water using cages with netting to protect fish against predators such as cormorants
  • avoid stocking fish when most fish-eating birds are present (generally between November and February)
  • encourage cover over the water by planting reeds or lily pads, or leaving fallen trees in the water
  • install nets to enclose the site so that birds are not able to get to the fish

Non-lethal methods to protect crops from bird damage

If wild birds are causing damage to crops, in addition to the standard bird management options, you should try using:

  • high visibility barrier tape when crops are growing
  • fences or hedges around fields to break sight lines and to stop birds like geese who prefer to walk from water to feeding sites

When you need a licence: lethal control of wild birds

You may take or kill some game and wildfowl species during an open season without the need for a wildlife licence.

You need a wildlife licence to take further action if you cannot resolve your wild bird problem with non-lethal methods alone. These licences are free.

General licences to control wild birds

You can use a general licence to kill or capture certain wild birds, including removing or destroying their eggs and nests for certain purposes. You do not need to apply for a general licence, but you must follow its conditions of use.

There are general licences to:

Each licence tells you which species of wild birds can be captured or killed. You must register for a class licence or apply for an individual licence if the general licence does not allow you to control the species causing a problem.

Control methods

You can only kill wild birds under certain circumstances by using certain allowed methods, such as:

Each licence explains which methods are allowed. You must:

If you’re certain that wild birds are no longer using a nest, you can remove or destroy it without needing a licence. However, this does not include Schedule ZA1 birds that reuse their nests - these are golden eagle, white-tailed eagle and osprey.

Class licences to control wild birds

You must register to use a class licence and report what action you’ve taken. There are 2 class licences available to control problem wild birds.

Each licence tells you which species of wild birds can be captured or killed.

Preserve air safety on or near airports or aerodromes

You must register for class licence CL12 to catch alive or kill wild birds on or near airports or aerodromes to preserve air safety.

Remove birds from food premises

You must register for class licence CL03 to catch wild birds on food premises. You can do this using mist-nets or cage-traps.

Individual licences to control wild birds

You must apply for an individual licence if your wild bird problem is not covered by a general or class licence. Natural England could take up to 30 working days to decide to issue an individual licence. You must:

If you need to apply for planning permission, you should get this before applying for a licence.

Control of herring gulls, lesser black-backed gulls and other wild birds

You cannot kill herring gulls or lesser black-backed gulls under a general licence.

You must apply for:

Each licence lists the other wild birds that can be controlled for these purposes.

Protect fisheries from fish-eating birds

To protect fisheries, you must apply for:

Meet the criteria to use an individual licence for lethal bird control

You must show that you’ve met the criteria for individual licences before you can kill birds or destroy eggs to prevent serious damage to:

  • livestock and their foodstuffs
  • crops including fruit and vegetables
  • growing timber
  • fisheries
  • inland waters

Natural England will assess your application against these criteria to make sure your proposed solution is practical and suitable.

1. Rule out non-lethal solutions

You must show that you’ve tried all reasonable non-lethal solutions or have ruled them out if they’re known not to work in the circumstances.

Explain which methods you’ve tried, or the reasons why they would not work in your application. You cannot reject alternative solutions just because they would be inconvenient. You can provide supporting evidence, such as photographs, if you think this will help your application.

2. Prove that birds are causing the damage

You need to show that there’s a genuine problem. The damage must be serious or likely to become serious, and is being caused by birds. If damage has not yet occurred, you’ll need to give evidence from past experience on the site or elsewhere, if relevant.

Evidence of damage can include:

  • photographs
  • records of the size and cost of the damage, such as the number of livestock lost or crops damaged
  • records of bird behaviour - the number of birds and frequency of damage (such as with diary entries)

3. Resolve the problem effectively and proportionately

Show that your proposed method to solve the problem will be effective and is proportionate to the problem. Explain in your application how you’ll:

  • target the species of bird (or birds) causing the damage
  • resolve the problem or reduce the damage caused by the birds
  • make sure the number of birds affected is proportionate to the problem

Natural England is more likely to accept applications that propose specific action to prevent damage. Applications that just propose to generally reduce the local population of the problem species of bird are less likely to be successful.

Restrictions on shooting gamebirds during the close season

Natural England cannot issue a licence to shoot or control gamebirds during the close season, even to resolve a problem caused by these wild birds.

Airport authorities should contact their local police wildlife crime officer if wild birds are causing an unacceptable risk to aircraft during the close season.

Updates to this page

Published 7 October 2014
Last updated 14 June 2019 + show all updates

  1. General licences section updated.

  2. Improved guidance in 'Licences to kill birds or destroy eggs to prevent serious damage' section.

  3. Page updated to include information about non-lethal methods of wild bird control.

  4. First published.

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