March

On March 24th the NRW board met and voted in favour of approving several changes to the General Licences. The major change will see magpie, jackdaw and jay all removed from GL 004 – ‘Licence to kill or take certain wild birds for the purpose of conserving wild birds’ when the current licence expires after the 30th of June and the new licences are issued on the 1st of July.

Following NRW’s consultation at the end of last year, this week we have been made aware of proposed changes to the General Licences in Wales. The GWCT is extremely disappointed with the proposed changes, which could be considered a worst-case scenario given the questions posed within the previous consultation.

In the latest Birds of Conservation Concern review, 14 of the 26 farmland birds in the UK have been assigned to the Red List¹. The reasons behind the declines in these species are numerous, however one of particular relevance to seed-eating birds in Wales is the loss of mixed farming.