Just Two Licences Remain - Now It's Time To End Gull Egg Trade For Good

* Just two licences stand in the way of ending the 'gourmet' trade in Black-headed gull eggs.
* All Hampshire licences have now been suspended - and offers of eggs sourced from this location should be reported as a wildlife crime.
* The end of this abhorrent trade is in sight - but 'foodies' are still fuelling demand.
* Natural England say "we cannot refuse to grant a licence if an application meets Defra criteria"

This week, Natural England have confirmed to me that just two licences remain in place for the harvesting of Black-headed gull eggs for human consumption. 
The two licences have been issued this year to individuals in North Yorkshire.
It's disappointing that these licences remain - for now - but we should take satisfaction from the fact that no licences at all have been issued in Hampshire, the primary traditional harvesting area, and this is a significant result.

Report illegal eggs as a wildlife crime
Two points to note, the first regarding those 'Hampshire' eggs that were advertised recently by a well known grocer - apparently sourced from Lymington Marshes.
If they were indeed from that location, then we now know that they must have been collected illegally. On this matter, Natural England tell me they have "no further statutory remit to investigate the advertised sale of eggs from Hampshire" but advised that if we believe a crime may have been committed, we should "make contact with the local wildlife crime officer by contacting 101". 
With that in mind, I'd urge everyone to keep an eye open for potentially illegally sourced eggs.
May is the traditional time of year when Black-headed gull eggs appear on the menus of high end restaurants and are sold through gourmet food suppliers, so eyes peeled everyone. 
That said, thankfully there should be far fewer eggs around this year given that only two licences remain in place. 

Demand from 'foodies' fuels trade
It's important to remember that this distasteful trade only exists because of wealthy 'foodies' - so we must view the whole 'tradition' of eating the eggs of a protected species with the disdain it deserves - and encourage those with a taste for wild birds eggs to resist the urge to eat them.

Defra policy
My second point is that Natural England do acknowledge our concerns over the Yorkshire licences remaining in place - and have attempted to offer an explanation.
Their Head Of Wildlife Licensing told me "Whilst I appreciate this news will be disappointing to you, I will explain the rationale for our decision...."
(As you'll see, they basically put the onus on Defra...)
"If an application passes the legal tests and meets Defra policy criteria, Natural England cannot refuse to grant a licence." 
They went on to explain in more detail Defra’s policy for sustainable use licensing and basically imply that their own hands are tied.
But Natural England do still have some responsibility here, and they reckon that there is no sustainability problem at the currently licensed sites.
They defend their decision to issue the two remaining licences, "the licensing team recently undertook a site visit to one of the collection sites and can confirm the colony is healthy and has grown substantially since the previous survey."
It's really interesting to note that they came to a similar conclusion in 2020; at that time I urged them to reconsider - and by 2022, following an 'evidence review', they had revoked the Hampshire licences, saying the practice was no longer sustainable.
So there's hope that the same thing might happen in Yorkshire.

Anyway, it's rather mixed news, there are definitely signs of progress, but as I lamented to Natural England this week, ultimately all this is on the conscience of those people who continue to eat the eggs of a protected species. Without the demand from the 'foodies' who eat them, there would be no market for the eggs in the first place.

​The campaign continues....