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.
This Technical Information Note (TIN) is one of the outputs of the review process. The aim of this TIN is to summarise NE’s understanding of the genetics evidence of relevance to the determination of wild take licence applications and hence a wild take licensing policy, and to consider whether any additional genetics work is required.
The evidence from this report has been combined with other evidence gathered for the review, to inform Natural England’s advice to Defra on the future of wild take licensing in England.