Natural England licensing update for stoats and birds

Stoat Licences

 Natural England has published the General Licences for Stoats as follows:

• GL38 To trap stoats to conserve wild birds - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/stoats-licence-to-trap-them-to-conserve-wild-birds-gl38
• GL39 To trap stoats to prevent serious damage to livestock - https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/stoats-licence-to-trap-them-to-prevent-serious-damage-to-livestock-gl39

Natural England have published with Defra a short note explaining a bit more about the licences here.

Individual licences for gulls and other bird species

Natural England is continuing to receive large numbers of applications for individual licences.  They have received 893 applications to date, with 287 of these applications having been received within the last two weeks.

Natural England are working to process these applications promptly, their aim remains to issue licensing decisions as early as possible in April. They have so far taken 491 applications through an initial check process, and they are currently either awaiting further information, or reviewing responses from, 341 applications where essential information was missing.

Natural England are currently working through a full technical assessment on 150 applications and anticipate that number will continue to rise as they are working more efficiently through the new process.