Natural England (NE) is responsible for determining licence applications to take native birds of prey from the wild (‘wild take’) in England for use in falconry and aviculture. In early 2022, with the support of the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra), NE launched a review to inform the development of a specific Defra wild take licensing policy based on the latest evidence, expert advice, and in-depth stakeholder insights from across the falconry and non-falconry communities. The review looked at the historical and cultural aspects of falconry and how it has changed over time, as well as evidence on the behaviour and genetics of captive and wild populations. The process involved workshops, interviews, and a public call for evidence.
This set of reports is one of the outputs of the review process. It includes:
- A commissioned review of the available literature on the topic
- A summary of two independently facilitated stakeholder workshops
- Reports summarising the outcomes of the public call for evidence
- A series of interviews with respondents that followed
- A technical information note on the genetics evidence relevant to the determination of wild take applications
.
These reports were then assessed as a collective body of evidence and were the basis to inform NE’s policy advice to Defra on the future of wild take licensing in England, which concluded that licences should not be granted unless in exceptional circumstances.