STOP THE LEGALISED KILLING OF OUR TREASURED AND ENDANGERED WILD BIRDS

Natural England and NatureScot, two of the UK's officially sponsored government 'conservation' agencies are issuing licences to control 65+ species of birds, many red and amber listed and endangered.

Thousands of birds, eggs and nests of more than 65 species are being licensed for destruction, often for spurious or contentious reasons. 

We want:-

• to thoroughly overhaul Natural England and NatureScot and their licensing process, making them fully transparent and accountable as public agencies, if necessary replacing them entirely with a totally independent body.
• to revoke licences currently issued until each has been independently reviewed.
• to examine future licences and ensure that they are not issued for spurious and/or vague reasons.
• to instigate a rigorous process to follow up on licences issued, to verify that the licensees are complying with strict criteria.
• to arrange a meeting with the relevant environment secretaries to discuss the concerns of the British public over the officially sanctioned killing of our wild birds.

PROGRESS SO FAR:-

• Discussions I had with Natural England in 2019 resulted in the publication of all licences for public scrutiny.
• Pressure from this campaign resulted in establishing an annual declaration from Natural England, detailing every licence issued during the previous twelve months, together with Natural England's reasons for issuing the licence, the species and numbers of birds affected and the method of control.
• In 2023, a promise from NatureScot to publish their wildlife licensing data for public scrutiny.
• Previously hidden licensing data is now freely available to the general public.
• A reduction in the number of licences issued for some species.
• Pressure from our campaign has helped to secure the withdrawal of most licences issued to harvest Black-headed Gull eggs for human consumption, in both 2022 and 2023. This species is amber-listed, and of conservation concern. I have called for a complete end to this abhorrent trade.
• Early signs that Natural England are (in their own words) "learning lessons" over issuing licences.

There is much more to do.

I will continue to examine the licensing process and ask questions where necessary.
As I write, around 400,000 people have signed this petition, that is quite astonishing - and it illustrates clearly that there is serious public concern over the activities of Natural England and NatureScot - and the harm these government agencies are doing to our wildlife.

Please sign and share the petition - together we can put pressure on Natural England and NatureScot to change, to become more accountable, to be more transparent - and to do a much, much better job of protecting our wildlife.

Because the survival of our wild birds is too important to be in the hands of incompetent and inept organisations.

*this petition began as a campaign to save Ravens from being shot under licences issued by Natural England.
Through freedom of information enquiries, it soon became clear that dozens of other species were suffering the same fate.
The campaign, including this petition, was amended to include all wild birds in the UK, specifically those affected by the highly questionable licensing systems of Natural England and NatureScot.