Summary of wildlife licences issued by Natural England in 2023
Data on the number and type of licences granted, and the updated list of licences to control birds from 2014 to 2023.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
Some species of wildlife have legal protection. Natural England issues licences on behalf of the government that allow activities affecting protected species that are otherwise prohibited.
Some licences allow lethal control. Before issuing a licence, Natural England carefully considers the circumstances of a case, the justification for it and the impact on the species as a whole.
Wildlife licences issued in 2023
The first document shows the number of wildlife licences issued in 2023 for:
- mitigation licences for European protected species
- strategic licences, which includes class licences
- science and conservation
- species management
You can find out more information about data by reading our blog.
Licences issued for the control of birds 2014 to 2023
The second document shows the number of birds, nests and eggs covered on licences that may include lethal control between 2014 and 2023.
This document is an update to the licences issued for the control of birds 2014 to 2022.
Where an applicant has applied for an amendment to their licence, this will supersede the previous version of the licence. As a result, there may be some differences in the data provided last year compared to this year.
Where a licence reference number appears more than once for birds, nests or eggs of the same species, this does not mean an applicant can control the combined total number of birds, nests or eggs of that species. This duplication allows licence holders flexibility in which control methods they use. To analyse the data accurately, only one instance of the birds, nests and eggs for species and licence purpose should be used for each unique reference number or site.
For all bird licences, annual returns show that the actual numbers affected are significantly less than the numbers covered on the licences. Because of the complexity of return information, it’s not possible to publish these figures.
This document now also contains data on all piscivorous area licences and falconry quarry licences covering the previous seven years. Improvements to how we mobilise our data has allowed us to include these statistics this year in line with our commitment to transparency. The published data do not include individual licences issued for the release of gamebirds in or within 500m of Special Protection Areas, as these licences were issued by Defra.