Air Arms Owners Club

BASC is advising members that Natural England (NE) is temporarily revoking three general licences in England for controlling certain wild birds from Thursday this week.

These licences (GL 04/05/06) cover 16 species of birds including several members of the crow family, Canada goose and some gulls and pigeons. There is uncertainty as to when the temporary revocation will end.

During that time, anyone needing to control one of these 16 bird species where there is no reasonable non-lethal alternative will need to apply for an individual licence. Natural England says it has simplified the process for applying for such a licence and details will be available on its gov.uk website on Thursday.

NE says this action is the first stage of a planned review of general and class licences, which will be completed this year. The change follows a legal challenge to the way the licences have been issued, which could mean users who rely on them are not acting lawfully.

BASC is disappointed that the shooting community has been given no notice of this change to the general licences. The situation is rapidly changing and we will update members as new information becomes available. Our website will provide the latest information.

A note for anyone with an urgent requirement (or needing a shooting contingency should other pest controls prove inadequate) before the re-instatement of General Licences (scheduled over 3 weeks commencing 29th April):

You can continue shooting once you have applied and received confirmation of your application for an individual license subject to you complying with the relevant clauses of the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 (as before - the confirmation tells you which clauses) and being able to justify, if required, you have tried alternative control measures which have been ineffective and you have a serious need. There is no requirement to wait for the licence to be issued.

In essence, any previously lawful bird shooting can continue.

Has anyone read the GL that has been issued for carrion crows yet?
There's 11 pages, some classic advice on non lethal methods which can be tried.

My favourite is to make a scarecrow, wearing your clothes, seated on a chair with a gun shaped stick in its hand. Move it around the field daily, when the crows get used to it you can remove the scarecrow, put the clothes on and sit on the chair with your gun. Then when the crow comes near you can shoot. First though you have to consider whether shooting near it will frighten it away. If you shoot to scare it you don't need to worry about the GL and of course scaring the bird in non lethal and just as easy as shooting it. Therefore you have no reason to shoot a crow ever again.