NGO Issues Gull Control Advice

7 December 2009

The National Gamekeepers' Organisation has issued advice to gamekeepers needing to control Herring Gulls and Greater Black-Backed Gulls in England.

Following Natural England's decision  to remove the two gull species from the English General Licences from 1 January 2010, the NGO is advising gamekeepers to apply for Individual Licences if they have good reason to control these gulls.

A spokesman for the NGO said:

"We urged NE to leave the Herring Gull and the Greater Black-Backed Gull on the General Licences for conserving wild birds and protecting livestock but our case went unheeded.

"NE have, however, told us that if the number of applications for Individual Licences is significant, they may look at less bureaucratic options in the future.

"No gamekeeper wants the added paperwork of having to apply for Individual Licences but that is the best chance of getting this unsatisfactory decision overturned in the long run."

Click here for the NGO's advice on applying for Individual Licences.

Notes

The full list of changes to the English General Licences, announced in September and to take effect from 1 January 2010, can be seen on NE's website at the following link:

http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/about_us/news/2009/300909.aspx

In its response to the consultation, carried out earlier this year, the NGO wrote:

Gamekeepers control Great Black-backed and Herring Gulls to conserve vulnerable ground nesting species such as red grouse.

These gulls are also sometimes culled where they are harrying and taking other game species from release pens or in the wild. 

Both species are strong predators of wildfowl and sometimes need to be controlled by wildfowling clubs conserving the birds on their marshes.

None of this control is countrywide, nor is it numerically extensive but in places where these birds are causing problems, gamekeepers and others need to be able to act immediately to control the problem birds and the general licences currently allow this to happen.

There is no evidence that such control is damaging to these gull populations overall.

Replacing control for these purposes under general licence with a need for individual licences would be vastly more bureaucratic, costly and - above all - too slow to be useful. Such a move would not be consistent with NE's stated objective of proportionate regulation and "reducing any unnecessary burdens on those we regulate" (Consultation document, paragraph 11).