{"id":468942,"date":"2026-03-11T04:04:20","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T04:04:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/468942\/"},"modified":"2026-03-11T04:04:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T04:04:20","slug":"natural-england-confirms-tighter-restrictions-on-gamebird-releases-on-near-to-special-protection-areas-in-england-raptor-persecution-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/468942\/","title":{"rendered":"Natural England confirms tighter restrictions on gamebird releases on\/near to Special Protection Areas in England \u2013 Raptor Persecution UK"},"content":{"rendered":"

Further to this morning\u2019s blog (here<\/a>), Natural England has now formally confirmed its tighter restrictions on the release of non-native Pheasants and Partridges on, or within 500m, of Special Protection Areas (SPAs) in England, due to the continuing very high risk of spreading Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (Bird Flu).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As expected, General Licence 45 (the licence under which restricted numbers of gamebirds can be released on or within 500m of Special Protection Areas, which was introduced after a\u00a0legal challenge<\/a>\u00a0by Wild Justice about damage to protected sites by gamebirds) will remain withdrawn this year, which means that if gamebird shoot operators want to release non-native Pheasants or Partridges on or next to SPAs, they will first need to apply for an individual licence from Natural England.<\/p>\n

The only SPA where individual licence applications are likely to be successful with standard mitigation is the marine SPA in Cornwall, Falmouth Bay to St Austell Bay.<\/p>\n

Natural England has indicated the SPAs where an individual licence may be granted (with restrictions on the number of birds that can be released) but probably with a delayed gamebird release date (of either 1 Sept or 1 Oct 2026) as follows:<\/p>\n

SPAs where applications are likely to be successful with delayed release<\/p>\n

Ashdown Forest (1 September)<\/p>\n

East Devon Heaths (1 September)<\/p>\n

Great Yarmouth North Denes (1 October)<\/p>\n

Greater Wash (1 October)<\/p>\n

North York Moors (1 September)<\/p>\n

Northumberland Marine (1 October)<\/p>\n

Outer Thames Estuary (1 October)<\/p>\n

Peak District Moors (South Pennine Moors Phase 1) (1 September)<\/p>\n

Porton Down (1 October)<\/p>\n

Solent and Dorset Coast (1 October)<\/p>\n

South Pennine Moors Phase 2 (1 September)<\/p>\n

Thorne and Hatfield Moors (1 September)<\/p>\n

For any other SPA not listed above, Natural England states it is likely to refuse an individual licence. For the first time, this includes the large Breckland SPA in Norfolk\/Suffolk, which will affect a number of large estates that are (in)famous for their Pheasant and Partridge shoots. <\/p>\n

Stand-by for representatives of the gamebird shooting industry proclaiming world-ending rural Armageddon in this area as a result of the new restrictions. <\/p>\n

Natural England\u2019s bulletin also states that a significant number of licensees failed to provide returns within the required time limit last year, and that this is an offence under the Wildlife & Countryside Act. What a surprise. Whether there\u2019ll be any follow-up enforcement action remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

Here is a copy of Natural England\u2019s gamebird licensing bulletin, published today:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Further to this morning\u2019s blog (here), Natural England has now formally confirmed its tighter restrictions on the release…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":468943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-468942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=468942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/468942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/468943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=468942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=468942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=468942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}