NGO Comment on Buzzard Licences

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The National Gamekeepers' Organisation has issued the following comment on the licences issued recently by Natural England for the management of buzzards to prevent serious damage to gamebirds:

"This was a case of wildlife licensing 'business as usual' and is explained by Natural England in a comprehensive 'Myth Buster' available on its website HERE.

"A few buzzards had been consistently killing a large number of pheasants and all available non-lethal means to dissuade them had failed. A small business was threatened as a result. The licensing route, available under the Wildlife and Countryside Act since 1981, exists for exceptional circumstances just such as these.

"Most birds of prey are now at or near record levels in the UK, so conflicts with game management, farming and wildlife conservation are bound to occur from time to time. Illegal persecution, which the NGO utterly condemns, can never be the solution. The licensing process, backed by law, is the correct way to resolve these conflicts and we have worked hard over several years to ensure its proper use for buzzards."

Notes:

1. In exceptional circumstances, buzzards and other birds of prey can attack and kill significant numbers (25% plus) of gamekeepers' pheasants. This has implications for the viability of shoots, rural jobs, conservation and, not least, bird welfare.

2. The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 protects buzzards, alongside all other birds, but allows for their control under licence to prevent serious damage to livestock, including gamebirds.

3. Natural England (NE), the licensing administrator in England, grants thousands of licences every year for actions that would otherwise be illegal under the 1981 Act. In 2011, the last year for which records are available, they licensed the control of over 40 bird species including curlew, lapwing and kestrel, permitting the killing of 9,700 individual birds and the destruction of over 80,000 eggs for varied reasons, such as air safety, public health, construction projects and wildlife conservation. In law and practice this decision about buzzards is no different. NE can only grant such licences where there is sound evidence of need and all other non-lethal means to resolve the problem have proved unsatisfactory. Before granting licences, NE assessed the current case very carefully and found evidence of serious damage and that all attempts to dissuade the buzzards non-lethally (including scaring, lights, sound, tapes, habitat manipulation and diversionary feeding) had been tried and failed. Only rarely are these official tests for granting a licence met but where they are, in law licences cannot be unreasonably withheld.

4. The RSPB told the Standing Conference on Countryside Sports on 9 May 2013 that it believes the bird licensing system in general is "robust and good" and that it accepts the licensed killing of cormorants to protect fisheries. (In 2011 NE issued over 400 licences for killing 2648 cormorants to protect fisheries - there are ten times as many buzzards in the UK as there are cormorants).

5. Buzzards have increased by 74% over the past 14 years, with a peak population now close on 300,000 birds.

6. The removal of just four buzzard nests under the recent licences will have no impact on the bird's very common, green-listed conservation status.

ENDS