Access Complete Data File, Via My Blog, Today....
Following Natural England's publication of licensing data last week, I contacted them and expressed the disappointment many of us had felt over the lack of certain details, especially the absence of statistics specifying the numbers of birds (and other animals) covered by each licence. I shared with Natural England my belief that, by withholding this vital information, they were reinforcing the growing public concerns over their activities. After some further discussions with their national operations director, David Slater, I'm pleased to say that I now have Natural England's permission to share some further licensing information with the public in much more detail, via my blog, today. And some very welcome news, beginning in March, with the next published instalment of wildlife licensing data, Natural England plan to include the numbers associated with the licences - this is a great step forward and shows a firm commitment from Natural England to strive for more transparency and accessibility over their work. So today I am happy to provide a link to the raw data (for birds only), detailing all the individual and class licences that Natural England issued between 2015 and 2018, including the numbers of birds affected by each licence. I feel it is correct that the public can have access to these statistics in order to have an informed opinion. The data file can now be freely accessed by the public* via the link below. LINK: CLICK HERE (It should be noted carefully that this raw data includes duplicate licences which need to be taken into account, in order to avoid overstating the number of birds affected). I think this is an excellent outcome and I thank Natural England for their kind co-operation over this matter, and for listening to public concerns. Special thanks to all the supporters of our petition, without whom this could not have happened. I hope this information is useful and I hope too that we can now look forward to much more openness from Natural England going forward. Best, Jase *Please bear in mind that this data remains copyright and cannot be misused in any way. Please see the further information below for details of this:- FOI data information: Please note that the information we have supplied to you is subject to copyright protection under the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988. You may re-use this information (not including logos) free of charge in any format or medium, for the purposes of research for non-commercial purposes, private study, criticism, review and news reporting. You must re-use it accurately and not in a misleading context. The material must be acknowledged as Natural England copyright and you must give the title of the source document/publication. However, if you wish to re-use all or part of this information for commercial purposes, including publishing and the information is not covered by the Open Government Licence you will need to apply for a licence. Applications can be sent to Enquiry Service, Natural England, County Hall, Spetchley Road, Worcester, WR5 2NP. This information may also contain third party copyrighted material and you will need to obtain permission from the copyright holders concerned before you re-use it.
23 Comments
Angus Robertson
22/1/2020 04:12:59 pm
Some the numbers on the file are eye-watering!!
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Geoffrey Logan
22/1/2020 04:40:10 pm
This is awful, how can Wrens be a danger to health?
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Kev Petford
22/1/2020 04:48:19 pm
Your upbeat and positive chest beating is alas, in shamefully stark contrast to the content of the information we now have access to!!!
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BoB Howson
22/1/2020 04:58:14 pm
I agree that there is masses to be angry/sad about in the figures but thank you for pushing to get this data made public. A huge efoort for which many thanks.
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Rosie Wood
22/1/2020 05:03:07 pm
An excellent result - excellent for Natural England too. More not less transparency is what is needed to build trust and foster good communication.
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DennisA
22/1/2020 05:12:03 pm
License to injure? Damage and destroy nests? Oiling eggs to kill live embryos? How sick. What a monstrous list.
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Colin Humphrey
22/1/2020 05:59:45 pm
An even bigger worry is there are people around prepared and probably enjoy carrying out such vile acts. Then they are free to mingle with the rest of us.
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StephenA
22/1/2020 06:57:34 pm
Truely horrifying reading and staggered both by the numbers and range of species affected. How on earth can this be justified, not least in the current climate of nose diving bird populations?? It makes a complete mockery of DEFRA's own bird conservation status system as there are numerous red and amber listed species that are being slaughtered, mostly in the interest of public safety??? After seeing this I'm quite surprised there are any wild birds left at all. For some species the numbers involved must amount to huge proportions of, if not entire local populations. Shame on NE and DEFRA.
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22/1/2020 07:02:03 pm
Puzzling also that an applicant in Cheshire wants to destroy sparrows. This sort of transparency is the first step - next there need to some form of challenge - something I think a parliamentary scrutiny committee might like to launch
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Denisr Booth
22/1/2020 07:51:52 pm
Please can someone have this report pri ted in the newspapers for everyone to see
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Mark Bevis
22/1/2020 10:31:04 pm
Notice that most reasons for license applications are for human selfishness:
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Alison Greggans
23/1/2020 08:48:37 am
Well said Mark Bevis. I couldn’t agree more.
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Alison Oliphant
23/1/2020 01:41:40 pm
I couldn't agree more with Mark.
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Alison Greggans
23/1/2020 08:45:10 am
Like many others responding to the release of this information I am sickened and appalled by what I see. While half the conservation movement want to opt for a rewilding strategy the other half want to obliterate wildlife - UNDER LICENSE! It makes no sense. Evidence is thin on the ground that such (barbaric) practices / methods are required at all. I thought the intention of forward thinking environmental policies was to create more space for wildlife to thrive!
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Laura
23/1/2020 09:18:25 am
Well done on this result Jason, so important that this is now in the public domain. What is next for the campaign? How do we bring it to the publics attention?
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StephenA
23/1/2020 11:22:46 am
Trying to put emotions to one side, what is clear is that 'Natural' England's decision making protocols need to be thoroughly and independently scrutinised. Personally, I would be very interested to see the scientific evidence which indicates blue tits present a danger to human health!! That's assuming they do actually have scientific evidence to justify all this barbarism??
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Kev Petford
23/1/2020 11:25:20 am
The following list of birds have three things in common: GadwallA, GoldeneyeA, MallardA, PintailA, ShovellerA, TealA, Tufted duck, WigeonA. Canada, GreylagA, Pink FootedA, White fronted. Golden Plover, SnipeA, Jack Snipe, Woodcock, Coot, Moorhen.
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This is absolutely shocking, and so so sad.We are meant to be preserving and protecting our birds and wildlife.I totally agree with the person that says to try put it in the newspapers so even more people know about this.How can they be allowed to get away with it?I hate these murderous humans, I hope one day they pay for what they have done to these beautiful creatures,
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Lesley Aungier
23/1/2020 10:30:26 pm
I have no words.
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GR
24/1/2020 10:28:45 pm
‘O’ Natural England suddenly flavour of the week! don’t rejoice too soon for if you all get your way and your hopes fulfilled, for the protection of all, and through ignorant public interference with the arrrrr factor’ the loss of culling certain species at certain times needing control, will result in an inappropriate balance and catastrophe for other species, as has happened with the explosion in the Buzzard population the consequent over predation of the likes of Lapwing and Skylark chicks and Leverets’s and what’s happened to Hedgehog and Bumblebee numbers after over protecting Badgers. Careful what you wish for.
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StephenA
26/1/2020 12:07:14 am
GR.. you are deluded beyond words. If you had made the effort to look at the data properly, you might have noticed that the very bird species you are seemingly protective of, i.e. lapwings and skylarks (and curlews), are actually on the extermination list themselves! Buzzards are carrion feeders and don't take chicks so should also be careful who you are calling ignorant. And as for blaming the decline of bumblebees and hedgehogs on badgers... All I can say it's likes of you that need to be culled.
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Keith Dancey
5/2/2020 12:37:06 am
Thank you Jason.
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