General licences in Wales set to turn stricter following bizarre changes

The Board of Natural Resources Wales (NRW) has pushed through changes to the General Licensing system following NRW's Wild Bird Review, which will cause huge concern for those interested in the conservation of wild birds.

Following the decision, which saw board members vote in favour of the proposals by six votes to three, the public can no longer control magpies, jays or jackdaws to protect wild birds, including those that are red and amber listed, under General Licence 004.

The changes mean you will now need to apply for a specific licence from NRW, a bureaucratic process which has received criticism in the past for lengthy delays.

The decision would appear to be at complete odds with the evidence that NRW themselves provided the public within their consultation document. Within that document, NRW referred to their own 2019 review which clearly stated that there was 'well established scientific evidence of impact' for magpie and jay to be included on GL004.

They went on to say: 'We consider that there is a medium-high strength of evidence of some likelihood of a high effect of predation by magpie/ jay on wild bird populations'. Strengthening the need to retain the jay on GL04 they continue to bolster their evidence stating that: 'There is strong evidence that nest predation by jay is likely to be greatest for open-nesting birds in scrub or woodland habitats. On this basis we believe that it is appropriate to include jay on a general licence for the purpose of conserving wild birds, but that the beneficiary species of such control should be restricted to breeding wild bird species of scrub and woodland habitats.'

Rachel Evans Director for Countryside Alliance Wales said: "It seems that NRW have once again bowed down to the pressure from animal rights groups and have completely ignored their own evidence. 82% of respondents to the consultation in a yes/no exercise wanted jay to be removed from a general licence, it seems that this has been accepted contrary to NRW's own evidence. It is completely bizarre."

"NRW are set to implement a six yearly review for the general licence, by which time we are likely to start seeing a significant impact on wild birds that have been afforded protection in the past. Protection that has now been reduced dramatically due to the decisions made by the board of NRW last week. There has been so much work carried out to conserve the curlew, which even received Ministerial backing, yet we are now faced with a significantly reduced protection level for this iconic bird. You have to start wondering where NRW's priorities really lie."

General Licence 01, which is issued for the purpose of preventing serious damage to crops and livestock, will specify which species of birds can be controlled matched to types of damage, further complicating the process, and reducing the ability of effective and proportionate control.

The new licences will come into effect from the 1st of July 2022.

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